News

December

12-31-2002 Jibla, Yemen, (AP) Islamic militant kills three American missionaries. "A gunman slipped past guards at a Southern Baptist hospital and opened fire Friday, killing three American missionaries with shots to the head and wounding another. Officials said he may be part of an Islamic militant cell targeting foreigners and secular-minded politicians in Yemen."

12-30-2002 San'a, Yemen, (CNN) U.S. aid workers killed in Yemen. "A suspected Islamic extremist shot dead three U.S. humanitarian workers and wounded a fourth at a missionary hospital in southern Yemen, according to a hospital spokeswoman. A 35-year-old man, identified as Abid Abdulrazzaq Al-Kamil, was arrested by Yemeni security officials shortly after Monday's attack, according to Walid Al-Saqqaf, editor-in-chief of the Yemen Times. Yemeni officials said the suspect was an Islamist militant who told police after his arrest that he had shot the two men and two women to "cleanse his religion and get closer to Allah."

12-20-2002 Vancouver, WA, (Seattle Times) Sen. Murray asks students to ponder bin Laden’s popularity. ""We’ve got to ask, why is this man (bin Laden) so popular around the world?" Murray asked during an appearance Wednesday at Columbia River High School. "Why are people so supportive of him in many countries that are riddled with poverty?" The answers may be uncomfortable, but are important for Americans to ponder — particularly students, Murray said. "He’s been out in these countries for decades, building schools, building roads, building infrastructure, building day-care facilities, building health-care facilities, and the people are extremely grateful. We haven’t done that," Murray said."

12-20-2002 Paraott, Kashmir, (CNN News) Women killed over 'dress code'. "Suspected militants entered a home in a Kashmiri village and brutally killed three young women, just days after posters ordered females to wear a veil. The attackers slit the throats of two of the women, both aged 21, and shot the third, police officials in the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region said on Friday."

12-20-2002 Paris, France, (BBC News) France creates Muslim council. "French officials and Muslim leaders have agreed to the creation of the first body to represent the country's five million Muslims - Europe's largest community. The breakthrough comes after several years of efforts to formalise relations between Muslims and the government."

12-19-2002 Paris, France, (UPI) France helps launch Muslim group. "In a telling remark, the current interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, hinted at one important reason for his and his predecessors' undertaking. He expressed the hope than a "French Islam with French-speaking imams" would emerge and "support values commensurate with the values of the Republic." This corresponds to what Bruno Guiderdoni, a prominent Paris astrophysicist and Muslim scholar, once told United Press International, "We must make sure that our imams preach in French on the Koran, and not politics." ... He questioned the legality of the French government's heavy hand in the creation of a Muslim Council and insisted that this organization must meet four criteria: 1. pluralism, 2. a fair electoral process, 3. independence from foreign states and 4. the right for women to actively participate. An alleged lack of the latter criterion has already triggered a stern protest from Betoul Fekkar-Lambiotte, the only female participant in the Nainville seminar. In an interview with the Figaro newspaper Thursday, she threatened to resign."

12-18-2002 New York, NY, (New York Times) A Portrait of the Prophet Behind Islam. "Perhaps understandably, given the climate after Sept. 11, the film also seeks over and over to reassure viewers who fear a link between the Koran and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. Steering viewers away from considering terrorism, the filmmakers illustrate Muhammad's teachings by focusing on a cozy, comforting portrait of Muslim communities in America. Heartwarming depictions of a Muslim New York City firefighter, a hijab-wearing nurse in Dearborn, Mich., and a black Muslim Capitol Hill staff member in Washington, packaged around glowing testimonials by clerics and academics, turn the Muhammad story into a lengthy infomercial for Islam. That is partly because most of the sponsors (they include Arabian Bulk Trade, Sabadia Family Foundation, Irfan Kathwari Foundation, El-Hibri Foundation, and Qureishi Family Trust) are Muslim-American business and community organizations eager to have the story told in the most favorable light possible. The filmmakers share their goal. The documentary, prepared by KQED/San Francisco, was created and produced by Michael Wolfe and Alexander Kronemer and produced and directed by Michael Schwarz. Mr. Wolfe, the author of "The Hadj: An American's Journey to Mecca" (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1999), is a convert to Islam who first proposed the project to Mr. Schwarz three years ago."

12-17-2002 New York, NY, (NY Post) PBS, Recruiting for Islam. "What would be the best way to convert lots of Americans to Islam? Forget print, go to film. Put together a handsome documentary with an original musical score that presents Islam's prophet Muhammad in the most glowing manner, indeed, as a model of perfection. Round up Muslim and non-Muslim enthusiasts to endorse the nobility and truth of his message. Splice in vignettes of winsome American Muslims testifying to the justice and beauty of their Islamic faith. Then get the U.S. taxpayer to help pay for it. ... * The U.S. government should never fund a documentary whose obvious intent is to glorify a religion and proselytize for it. Doing so flies in the face of American tradition and law. On behalf of taxpayers, a public-interest law firm should bring suit against the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, both to address this week's travesty and to win an injunction against any possible repetitions."

12-11-2002 Washington, DC, (UPI) Faith: Islam's third run for Europe. "Islam knocks at Europe's doors with velvet gloves at this point. Turkey is a secular state, though governed by an Islamic party. For geopolitical reasons, the United States wants it to be part of the European Union. France and Germany have proposed starting negotiations with Ankara over EU membership in July 2005. In a cover story, Britain's Economist magazine proclaimed, "Turkey Belongs in Europe." If it is admitted, 70 million Muslims will join the by then 460 million EU citizens, whose religious roots are predominantly Christian. These Turks may then settle and work anywhere between the North Cape and Sicily, Ireland and the Bosporus."

12-2-2002 Washington, DC, (Journal Gazette) Saudi gift fuels U.S. Muslim debate. "Omar Ahmed, board chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations [CAIR], which received the gift, said the donation would be used to support a $2.5 million project aimed at placing Islamic educational material into the nation's 16,000 public libraries. The gift to the council from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a nephew of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd and one of the kingdom's richest men, comes at a time when the Saudi royal family's spending on Muslims in the United States has been the subject of new questions."

November

11-21-2002 Lagos, Nigeria, (WMURChannel) Nigerian Official Calls For Death Of Journalist. "A state official in Nigeria is calling on fellow Muslims to kill the woman who wrote the newspaper article about the Miss World pagaent that sparked deadly riots. Journalist Isioma Daniel suggested in her article that the founder of Islam, the prophet Muhammad, would have approved of the beauty pageant and might even have wanted to marry a contestant. The article sparked Muslim-Christian riots that led to the death of more than 200 people and the transfer of the pageant from Nigeria to London. The deputy governor of a northern Nigerian state compared Daniel to Salman Rushdie, who drew a death edict from Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini for his book "The Satanic Verses" in 1989. Another state official said the Quran holds that anybody who accuses or insults a prophet of Allah "should be killed." He said that if Daniel is a Muslim, "she has no option but to die." If she isn't a Muslim, he said, her only way out is to convert to Islam. The writer reportedly went into hiding after being interrogated by police last week."

11-21-2002 Kaduna, Nigeria, (Guardian, UK), More than 50 die in rioting as Miss World article sparks Muslim rampage in Nigeria. "More than 50 people were stabbed, bludgeoned or burned to death yesterday in the northern city of Kaduna during riots triggered by a newspaper article suggesting that Islam's founding prophet might have chosen a wife from among contestants in the Miss World beauty pageant in Nigeria. At least 200 others were seriously hurt and four churches were torched, the Nigerian Red Cross president, Emmanuel Ijewere, said. ... Schools and shops closed yesterday morning as hordes of young men, chanting "Allahu Akhbar" (God is most great) ignited makeshift street barricades of tyres and rubbish. Others were heard chanting, "Down with beauty" and "Miss World is sin.""

11-21-2002 Pushkar, India, (India Express), Terrorists were planning to strike during Pushkar fair. "Terrorists were planning to strike during the Pushkar fair, which attracts thousands of people including foreigners. The sinister plan came to light when three suspected terrorists were arrested during the annual fair. Documents recovered from Mohammad Abdullah, Mohammad Islam and Mohammad Aslam, who were taken into custody on Sunday, revealed their terrorist links. It was established that they had come to prepare the groundwork for an attack, reports quoting police sources said."

11-21-2002 Jerusalem, Israel (CNN), Bus blast kills at least 11 in Jerusalem: Schoolchildren among suicide bomber's victims. "A suicide bomber killed 11 people and injured 50 — including many schoolchildren — aboard a crowded Israeli commuter bus in Jerusalem on Thursday morning, according to Israeli police. The bus regularly carries schoolchildren and university students, according to Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert. ... In a broadcast on Hezbollah's al-Manar television, the radical Islamic group Hamas claimed responsibility for the blast."

11-21-2002 Kaduna, Nigeria, (Reuters), Miss World protesters riot. "Rampaging youths looted shops and lit bonfires in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna as Muslim anger over the country staging the Miss World pageant spread on Thursday, witnesses said."

11-21-2002 Sidon, Lebanon (CNN) American missionary shot to death in Lebanon. "A gunman shot and killed an American missionary at close range Thursday morning in the Lebanese port city of Sidon, officials said. Bonnie Weatherall, 30, was shot in the head three times with a 7 mm pistol shortly after she opened a health clinic around 8 a.m. (midnight EST) where she was a volunteer nurse, police and church officials said."

11-18-2002 Tehran, Iran (CBS News) Iran Protest Turns Violent. "Fist fights broke out Monday between hard-line vigilantes and university students when a rally to support a history professor sentenced to death for insulting Islam turned into rare public criticism of Iran's supreme leader. The students organized the demonstration at Sharif Technical University in Tehran to support reformist scholar Hashem Aghajari. About 3,000 students were chanting slogans calling for freedom of speech and accusing hard-line clerics of thwarting President Mohammad Khatami's political and social reform programs."

11-18-2002 Cairo, Egypt (BBC News) Islamic institute blesses interest. "Conservative Islam's opposition to paying interest on savings could be in line for a shake-up after the most august institution in Sunni Islam gave its blessing to the practice. ... A fixed interest rate, conservative scholars hold, is equivalent to usury or "riba" - the earning of money without doing any work for it. But Agence France-Presse reports that the Islamic theological research committee of Egypt's Al-Azhar institute - seen by many as the philosophical centre of the dominant Sunni strand of the faith - has voted 21-1 to approve fixed interest rates."

11-14-2002 Brussels, Belgium (Pravda) Putin Denounces Plans for Radical Islamic worldwide Caliphate. "Vladimir Putin declared in Brussels on Monday that radical Islamic groups are planning to systematically annihilate non-Moslems and to create a worldwide Caliphate. He added that western civilisation was at risk of being attacked by terrorists, these attacks being more than sporadic one-off attacks. Rather, they are, in the opinion of Vladimir Putin a “concerted effort and programme” by an organisation which has a global structure and which has the intention to commit murderous atrocities in the name of Islam. ... President Putin declared that if the West does not deal effectively with the Chechen question, acts such as those perpetrated in Moscow and Bali will become commonplace all over the world."

11-14-2002 Hong Kong (Far Eastern Economic Review) How a Terrorist Proves His Faith. "Geonzon seems to have adopted the faith for a number of reasons. Hounded by drugs and a crumbling marriage, he was converted to Islam in 1997 by a Saudi national, Sheikh Hamoud Al-Lahim, a friend of Khalifa. He was sent to an Islamic school to study the Koran, but eventually, he told his police interrogators, he ended up at a camp 190 kilometres north of Manila where his instructors moved on to darker subjects: holy war and bomb-making."

11-7-2002 Tehran, Iran (Fox News) Reformist Scholar Sentenced to Death in Iran. "A prominent reformist scholar has been sentenced to death on charges of insulting Islam's prophet and questioning the hard-line clergy's interpretation of Islam, his lawyer said Thursday. A court in Hamedan in western Iran sentenced university professor Hashem Aghajari to death, Saleh Nikbakht told The Associated Press. Aghajari was detained in August after a closed hearing in Hamedan where he made a speech in June questioning the hard-line interpretations of the ruling clerics. Nikbakht said Aghajari, a top member of the reformist political party, Islamic Revolution Mujahedeen Organization, was also sentenced to 74 lashes, banned from teaching for 10 years and exiled to three remote Iranian cities for eight years."

11-7-2002 Islamabad, Pakistan (NDTV) Fazlur Rehman poses nightmare for US. "He won big in last month's elections on an anti-American ticket, has links with Libya and counts Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar among his friends — and he could be Pakistan's next prime minister. Fazlur Rahman, who keeps his beard bushy and wears a brightly coloured turban, has called Osama bin Laden a holy warrior and sharply criticized President Pervez Musharraf's support for the United States and its war on terror."

11-6-2002 Redmond, WA (MSNBC) Muslim outreach in high gear: American Muslims launch PR-style campaigns to defend Islam. "In September, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Washington-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group, launched the Library Project, which aims to distribute a collection of reading materials and DVDs about Islam to the country’s 16,000 public libraries, 95 percent of which have sought new materials on Islam and Middle Eastern history since September 2001, according to the advocacy group Libraries for the Future."

11-1-2002 Washington, DC (Washington Times) Religious leaders decry death threats against 3 ministers. "The Abrar newspaper in Iran reported that in a Friday sermon on Oct. 11 in the northwestern city of Tabriz, Ayatollah Mohsen Mujtahed Shabestari said, "in our opinion, to kill these three is necessary." Though not mentioning them by name [Jerry Falwell, Franklin Graham and Pat Robertson], the religious representative from the capital spoke of three as "the Israeli mercenaries" who needed to be "separated from other Christians." A few days earlier, the editor of the hard-line Kayhan evening newspaper said, "In accord with Islam, it is imperative to kill the three priests linked to the Zionists because they have insulted Islam and the prophet."

October

10-30-2002 Washington, DC (Washington Times) State of 'dhimmitude' seen as threat to Christians, Jews. "Muslim armies steamrolled over North Africa, the Middle East and Spain for five centuries after the death of Muhammad in 632, says Bat Ye'or, a pen name meaning "daughter of the Nile." In her two most recent books, "Islam and Dhimmitude" and "The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam," she describes how magnificent basilicas and monasteries of Egypt, Syria and Mesopotamia were left in smoking ruins by Muslims from the eighth to 10th centuries."

10-28-2002 Washington, DC (Washington Times) Jihad and the anti-West culture war. "Oriana Fallaci, now 72, suffers from cancer, but she has lost none of her zest with the language, which she aims at an enemy that "intellectually terrorizes" Western liberals into silence. The politically correct on college campuses and in the larger culture attempt to "blackmail" those who know better, but who quail from recognizing the hatred of much of the Muslim world for our concepts of beauty, freedom and equality, our science and medicine, even as they take advantage of our accomplishments, our openness, our tolerance, and above all our naivete."

10-22-2002 New York (NY Post) Militant Islam's New Strongholds. "THE recent bombing of a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia, killing at least 183 and injuring hundreds, fits into a larger pattern. Militant Islam used to be mostly confined to Middle Easterners, but in recent years it has spread to Muslims in other parts of the world."

10-20-2002 Iran (NY Times) Drilling for Freedom. "A funny thing happened in Iran the other day. The official Iranian news agency, IRNA, published a poll on Iranian attitudes toward America, conducted by Iran's National Institute for Research Studies and Opinion Polls. The poll asked 1,500 Iranians whether they favored opening talks with America, and 75 percent said "yes." More interesting, 46 percent said U.S. policies on Iran — which include an economic boycott and labeling Iran part of an "axis of evil" — were "to some extent correct."

10-20-2002 Islamabad, Pakistan (Tehran Times) Muslim World Can Use Oil as Weapon Against Oppression. "Malysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad on Friday reiterated that oil producing Islamic countries can use the black gold to protect Muslim nations worldwide from being oppressed, AFP reported. "A lot of people say that Muslims are being oppressed and Muslim countries are unable to do anything about themselves because they are all very weak," he told a news conference after talks with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. "I have pointed out that they have the production of oil. That can be very effective as a weapon. If they come together they will be able to control the supply of oil to the whole world."

10-16-2002 Dubai, UAE (Gulf News) Al Azhar project's first phase nears completion. "The first phase of the $5 million Al Azhar online project to preserve precious manuscripts and books of Al Azhar, Islam's oldest religious and educational institution, is almost complete."

10-16-2002 Indonesia (CNN) Bush urges Jakarta to begin terror crackdown: Reports U.S. attack warnings went unheeded. "According to the New York Times Tuesday, the U.S. ambassador in Jakarta delivered several warnings that an attack was being planned by the Indonesian-based Jemaah Islamiah—a group linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terror network."

10-15-2002 England (BBC News) Muslims tackle mortgage hurdles. "Treasury ministers will meet on Wednesday a delegation of leading bankers and Muslims who want the government to change the rules to allow affordable Islamic mortgages. With Islamic mortgages, instead of lending money, the bank buys the home on the customer's behalf. Instead of paying interest, the customer pays the price of the house in monthly installments, plus a "rent"."

10-15-2002 Tehran, Iran (Reuters) Iranian women seek equal 'blood money'. "Iran's judiciary has set the amount that a killer can pay to his victim's family to avoid execution at a flat 150 million rials ($18,750) for a murdered man, and half of that for a woman."

10-14-2002 Cairo, Egypt (The Ledger) Muslims Accept Falwell's Apology. "Leaders in the two main branches of Islam welcomed an apology from the Rev. Jerry Falwell for calling the founder of their religion a terrorist. Falwell "deserves thanks for his return to the righteous path," said Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, the grand sheik of Al-Azhar, a Sunni Muslim mosque in Cairo."

10-14-2002 Iran (BBC News) Liberal Iranian cleric jailed. "A hardline religious court in Iran has sentenced a prominent liberal cleric to seven years in prison. The main charge against Hassan Youssefi Eshkavari was his rejection of the compulsory veiling of women. Mr Eshkavari made his remarks at a conference in Germany two years ago about the future of reforms in Iran. He had originally been given a death sentence on charges of apostasy, but this was overturned by an appeals court in May 2001."

10-13-2002 Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBC News) Bangladesh court sentences Taslima. "The Bangladeshi feminist writer, Taslima Nasreen, has been given a one-year prison sentence on a charge of writing derogatory comments about Islam in several of her books. This is the first sentence against the writer who was forced to flee the country in 1994 after receiving death threats from Muslim extremists."

10-12-2002 Beirut, Lebanon (AP) Falwell 'must be killed' Iranian cleric reportedly tells paper. "Iranian cleric Mohsen Mojtahed Shabestari, addressing weekly Friday prayers in the northwestern town of Tabriz, said Falwell was a "mercenary and must be killed," the Farsi-language daily Abrar reported Saturday."

10-11-2002 Jerusalem, Israel (Ledger-Inquirer) Israel Curbs Access to Jerusalem Muslim Holy Site. "Israel curbed access to one of Islam's holiest sites on Friday to try to deter possible violence after the end of prayers, a week after worshippers stoned police guarding an adjacent plaza sacred to Jews. Police reacted to last week's violence by charging into the compound of old mosques, known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as Temple Mount, and fired stun grenades to disperse the Palestinian stone-throwers."

10-10-2002 Jordan (BBC News) Jordan king urged to help widow. "Religious rights activists are urging King Abdullah of Jordan to intervene in the case of a Christian widow who has gone into hiding after being ordered to surrender her children to her estranged Muslim brother. The London-based organisation Christian Solidarity Worldwide says the woman, Siham Qandah, was told on Monday that she had seven days to hand over her teenage son and daughter."

September

09-20-2002 HAMBURG, Germany (NJNews.com, AP) Muslim extremism baffles Germany on eve of elections. "But one former local Muslim, he says, is surely in paradise: Mohamed Atta, thought to be the pilot of the first plane that hit the World Trade Center. "After the attacks, 71,000 people converted to Islam. That will give him a pass to heaven," Mr. Barakat says. "He was a true martyr." But more than a year after the attacks, German cities are still home to extremist Muslims. That's raising the question here of what, if anything, should be done about men such as Mr. Barakat: immigrants who live off welfare, hold their new homeland in contempt and are in awe of bloody martyrdom."

09-20-2002 Cincinnati, OH (NewsMax.com) U.S. Muslim Population Far Lower Than Thought. "There are about five and a half million fewer Muslims in the U.S. a new survey of religious affiliations shows. Instead of the 7 million Muslims in America Islamic groups have claimed, the survey found just 1.6 million. That was just one of the major surprises contained in what the Washington Times described as "the most complete religious survey of the United States." Religious Congregations & Membership 2000

09-17-2002 Nairobi, Kenya (CNSNews.com) Sudan Accused Of Bombing Civilians, Threatening Christian-Run Hospital. "... On September 12, government planes also attacked a smaller town called Lui, which is home to a hospital operated by Samaritan's Purse, a North Carolina-based Christian relief organization headed by the Rev. Franklin Graham. No deaths, injuries or property damage was reported, the organization said in a statement. During the attack, four bombs were dropped over the town, which has a population of 9,000. The hospital there is the only one in the area and serves 400,000, most of whom walk from miles around to the facility, Samaritan's Purse said. It questioned the choice of target, saying Lui had no rebel personnel or targets. "There are no structures in Lui except the hospital, a church - damaged in a December 2000 attack and still under repair - a school and grass huts."

09-17-2002 PARIS, France (AP) French author on trial for anti-Islam comments. "Best-selling French author Michel Houellebecq appeared in court Tuesday accused of inciting racial hatred after criticizing the Islamic religion. The 44-year-old author who shot to international fame with the 1998 shock novel "The Elementary Particles," was defending himself against four French Muslim groups that sued following his comments in an interview with the literary magazine Lire."

09-17-2002 PARIS, France (Reuters) Writer on trial for Islam 'slur'. "French novelist Michel Houellebecq has gone on trial accused of inciting racial hatred after calling Islam "the stupidest religion" and its holy book the Koran a depressing read."

12-09-2001 Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) Christian Exodus from the Middle East. "And it is not only the Holy Land from which many native Christians have fled. Throughout the entire Middle East, once significant Christian communities have shrunk to a miniscule portion of their former robust selves. In 50 years they may well be extinct. What happened? Why has there been a great – and little reported -- Christian exodus from the Middle East, with some 2 million fleeing in the past 20 years alone? Why have perhaps fully half of all Iraqi Christians clandestinely emigrated in the last 10 years? Why have hundreds of thousands of Egyptian Copts left their homeland, with the famous Antioch community collapsing from 15,000 Christians a couple of decades ago to a mere handful today? The single greatest cause of this emigration is pressure from radical Islam."

09-15-2002 LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) Nigerians fight sentences of death by stoning. "When her time to die comes, convicted adulteress Amina Lawal will be buried up to her neck in sand. When only her head remains exposed, those watching will be invited to throw stones until the 30-year-old single mother is dead. "As they throw, they will be calling, 'God is great," court official Ibrahim Abdullahi said, outlining procedure for the first in a sudden string of executions by stoning in Nigeria’s Islamic northern states."

09-13-2002 Ottawa (Ottawa Citizen) 9/11 denial book a hit in Quebec Author blames U.S. military for attacks. "The book insists high-ranking U.S. military officials were complicit in the terrorist attacks and argues that an air-to-ground missile, not an airplane, was the cause of the destruction at the Pentagon. ... Released on March 11, the book topped France's best-seller list for more than six weeks." [French, L'Effroyable Imposture; English, 9/11: The Big Lie]

09-12-2002 London (NY Times) At a Mosque in London, bin Laden Is Hailed as a Hero. "Even as much of Britain mourned America's loss and its own on Sept. 11, Muslim leaders known here as supporters of holy war seized on the moment of grief to hail Osama bin Laden as a hero and to evoke the "positive outcomes" of the attacks in New York and Washington." 

09-09-2002 McLean, VA (Saudi Institute) Saudis Spread Hate Speech in U.S. "Astonishingly, even as the Saudi government spends millions to convince Americans that they are friends and allies, they are waging a campaign based on slanders, falsehoods, intolerance and defamation,” said Saudi Institute Director Ali al-Ahmed. "It is vital that the American people and their elected leaders know what the Saudi government is doing – and respond appropriately.""

August

08-26-2002 London (Denver Post) Al-Qaeda rallies in London. "Banners proclaimed: "Islam will dominate the world" and "Those who do not rule by what Allah has revealed are oppressors." Preachers Abu Hamza al-Masri and Omar Bakri Muhammad addressed hundreds, casting Islam as the salve to a U.S.-led world of suffering." 

08-20-2002 Nigeria (Telegraph.co.uk) Adulterous mother will face death by stoning "An Islamic court in Nigeria yesterday confirmed a sentence of death by stoning handed down to a divorced woman for having a child out of wedlock. To cries of "God is great" from the public gallery, the court ruled that the execution for adultery would be carried out after Amina Lawal, 30, weans her eight-month-old daughter, Wasila, probably in two years' time." 

08-16-2002 Copenhagen, Denmark (Copenhagen Post) Academic infiltration?  "Danish universities have announced that they are cooperating with PET, the Police Intelligence Service, in an attempt to stop extreme Muslim groups from gaining a foothold on campuses." 

08-17-2002 Washington (UPI) Islamic schools create Pakistani dilemma.  "In Pakistan, more than 1.5 million children attend religious schools called madrasas, producing thousands of eager volunteers for Muslim causes every year, says the country's Ministry for Religious Affairs." 

08-15-2002 Islamabad, Pakistan (UPI) 'Blasphemous' Christian freed in Pakistan.  "Pakistan took another significant step against religious extremists Thursday when the country's Supreme Court ordered authorities to release a Christian sentenced to death for blasphemy in 1998. Police have arrested dozens of Christians under the law, which has been condemned by all human rights groups in Pakistan. Ayub Masih, a Christian teenager, was sentenced to death in 1998 by a lower court for allegedly making blasphemous statements against Prophet Mohammed." 

08-09-2002 Taxila, Pakistan (AP) Pakistan assailants attack church, kill 3. "Assailants hurled grenades at worshippers leaving church Friday, killing three Pakistani women and reinforcing fears that Islamic militants are targeting Christians and Westerners in Pakistan ..." 

Last edited 01/04/2002

Top of Page.

08-06-2002 New Delhi, India (UPI) Hindu pilgrims killed in Kashmir. "At least nine people were killed and about 37 wounded Tuesday when suspected Islamic militants attacked a camp of Hindu pilgrims in Indian-administered Kashmir. A few hours later, three people were killed in a gun battle north of Srinagar. Police say the militants attacked a camp at dawn near Pahlgam using grenades before opening fire with automatic rifles, before escaping in the darkness. Police killed one of the attackers." 

08-06-2002 Islamabad, Pakistan (Frontier Post) Five killed in Christian school attack. "The assailants came riding motorcycles, sprayed bullets around and vanished in the nearby woods, a police official Maqbool said. However, a local resident said the gunmen came on foot. The school, situated in Ghayal village near Murree, was open but there was no harm was reported to the students. Those killed included two security guards, one cook, one receptionist and another employee of the school. The injured have been admitted in civil hospital Murree. Monday’s attack becomes the third such incident in which Pakistan’s minority Christians were targeted." 

08-05-2002 Amman, Jordan (AP) Muslim world faces "severe crisis," Jordan's crown prince says. "Jordan's Crown Prince Hamzeh on Sunday suggested the Muslim world needs a modern approach to Islamic thinking if it is to escape poverty, illiteracy and absence of freedoms." 

08-05-2002 Jakarta, Indonesia (VOA) Indonesian Protesters Call for Islamic Law. "Roughly 2,000 protesters marched on Indonesia's parliament Saturday, calling for the implementation of Islamic law in the country. The peaceful rally took place as Indonesia's legislature began its annual session." 

08-05-2002 Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) Six killed in attack on Pakistan school. "At least six people were killed when gunmen attacked a Christian school near the town of Murree, east of Islamabad, local officials said. Khurseed Abbassi, the mayor of Murree, said earlier that the attack took place around noon (0600 GMT) on Monday in the village of Gharyal, about six kilometers (four miles) from Murree, which is about 30 kilometers northeast of Islamabad." 

May

05-19-2002 New York, NY (The Nation) The 'Talibanization' of Bangladesh. "A few weeks later Delwar Hossain Sayedee, the Jamaat leader who subsequently placed Kabir under fatwa, decreed that all statues except those of Muslim worshipers should be destroyed. The Hindustan Times reported in January that eighteen terrorist training camps backed by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence directorate are currently operating in Bangladesh. Several are run by Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, which is believed to have been founded in 1992 with money from Osama bin Laden. A more insidious threat is posed by the exponential growth of madrassahs, or religious schools, in the last decade." 

05-07-2002 Islamabad, Pakistan (MSNBC) Gunmen kill prominent moderate Islamic scholar in Pakistan. "Two gunmen on motorcycles killed a prominent moderate Islamic cleric, his driver and a police officer who chased after the assailants Tuesday night, police and doctors said. The gunmen sprayed Ghulam Mustaza Malik's car with bullets in the eastern city of Lahore before speeding off, they said." 

April

04-2002 American Jewish Committee, Muslim Anti-Semitism: A Clear and Present Danger.

04-28-2002 Jakarta, Indonesia Jakarta, Indonesia (MSNBC) 14 Christians killed in Indonesia: Attack threatens fragile peace in religiously divided city. "ABOUT A DOZEN people wearing military fatigues and black masks attacked mainly Christian Soya village on Ambon’s outskirts, setting 30 homes and a Protestant church ablaze, a witness said. The assailants stabbed six Christians to death, including a 6-month-old baby. Six others were killed in the fires and another 11 were injured in the attack, the witness said on condition of anonymity." 

4-16-2002 Washington, DC (Weekly Standard) Polling for Islam. "The Council on American Islamic Relations has a poll on its website. But only when people answer the way they want them to. ... Like Yasser Arafat, the folks at CAIR are happy to bully others with loud protests against discrimination and humiliations. Like the Saudis, they're intolerant of dissenting viewpoints. Like the Taliban, they're willing to create an "official" version of the truth to bury opinions and beliefs they don't like. And just like the Arab Muslims who believe the Mossad was behind September 11, they're nestled deep in conspiracy theories. The Islamic perspective indeed.."

March

03-25-2002 Lahore, Pakistan (MSNBC) At least six die as Pakistani Shi'ites mourn. "Police and soldiers clamped down across Pakistan to avert Muslim sectarian violence during the Ashura day of mourning, which marks the martyrdom of the Prophet Mohammad's grandson, Imam Hussain, more than 1,300 years ago. But police said five men died across Punjab province, after lashing their own backs with wooden-handled flails attached to around seven steel blades, a traditional practice meant to show solidarity with Hussain's suffering. ... ''Unfortunately these people flagellate in a frenzy, causing deep cuts with steel blades, because of which they bleed excessively and are vulnerable to death,'' said one doctor." 

03-23-2002 Virginia, USA (Washington Post) Finances Prompted Raids on Muslims: U.S. Suspected Terrorism Ties to N.Va. for Years. "For years, most of the firms and foundations searched have engaged in extremely complex business deals with one another. And since the mid-1990s, federal agents have tried to track the $1.7 billion that has sloshed among them. Millions of dollars have ended up being sent to related firms in offshore tax havens, such as the Isle of Man, or to organizations that are under investigation for possible ties to terrorists." 

03-21-2002 Lagos, Nigeria (Nigerian Guardian News) Nigeria declares Sharia rule illegal. "TWO years after some states in the northern part of Nigeria raised the implementation of the Islamic legal code from the civil to the criminal sphere, the Federal Government has formally declared the action illegal. Indeed, according to the government, further implementation of the Sharia would amount to questioning the very existence of Nigeria." 

03-20-2002 Saudi Arabia (BBC) Saudi author arrested over poem. "Authorities in Saudi Arabia have arrested a popular poet and dismissed a newspaper editor over the publication of a poem criticising the state's Islamic judiciary. ... Sales of al-Madina soared after the poem's publication and demand for the newspaper increased in the following days, French news agency AFP reported." 

03-18-2002 Sokoto, Nigeria (CNN) Court deliberates appeal in landmark stoning case. "Under the October ruling, which has been placed on hold pending her appeal, Hussaini could be executed as soon as her child stops nursing. ... Hussaini and her lawyers say she was impregnated by her former husband before their divorce "some years ago." Although the infant was born more than a year after the marriage ended, the defense argued that up to seven years can pass between conception and birth under Islamic law despite the biological improbability." 

03-18-2002 Barre, Vermont (Times Argus) Lindh’s cousin calls him 'a hero'. "He calls John Walker Lindh a "true hero" and "one of the greatest success stories in the modern propagation of Islam in the West." He said Muslims in this country should cheer Lindh in their hearts and remember him in their prayers as "someone who abandoned privilege and comfort to seek knowledge and strive in the cause of Allah." 

03-18-2002 Sokoto, Nigeria (BBC) Nigeria stoning decision delayed. "Nigeria stoning decision delayedA woman convicted of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning by an Islamic court in Nigeria must wait a further week to know the outcome of her appeal. The four judges at the Sokoto Court of Appeal ruled on Monday that a decision will be made on 25 March." 

03-18-2002 Sokoto, Nigeria (ABC News) Death by Stoning. "In October 2001, an Islamic court found Hussaini guilty of adultery and under sharia, or Islamic law, sentenced her to be stoned to death while buried up to her waist in sand. In interviews with Western journalists in recent days, some Muslim clerics in the region have carefully explained that Hussaini would be buried in a pit to prevent her escape and that the size of the stones could be a big as an adult fist." 

03-17-2002 Pakistan (BBC) Five dead in Pakistan church blast. "At least five people have died in a grenade attack on a Protestant church in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. The church, inside the city's heavily guarded diplomatic enclave and not far from the United States embassy, was crowded with Sunday morning worshippers. ... "There was blood, blood, blood," she said while awaiting treatment. "It was horrific. There was a horrible smell and we could barely breathe."" Also see, News International, Pakistan

03-16-2002 Pakistan (WorldNetDaily) Christian teacher faces death penalty in Pakistan. "The headmaster of a Christian school in Pakistan will be hanged if he is found guilty of blaspheming Muhammad. Parvez Masih has been accused of violating Pakistan's rigid "blasphemy law," which provides the death penalty for anyone who blasphemes against the Prophet Muhammad or the Koran."

03-16-2002 Lahore, PK (Jang Group) Lack of philosophical spirit led to Islamic civilisation's decline. "He said fanaticism let the western culture and civilisation dominate the Islamic civilisation."

03-15-2002 Washington, DC (Seattle Times) 400 of Taliban, al-Qaida said to have escaped. "U.S. intelligence officials believe that as many as 400 al-Qaida and Taliban fighters may have escaped from Operation Anaconda into Pakistan because a local Pakistani military commander apparently failed to seal the Pakistani side of the border as he'd been ordered to do."

03-14-2002 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (CNN) Saudi police face deaths criticism. "Saudi media, in a rare criticism of the kingdom's powerful religious police, have accused the force of hampering efforts to rescue 15 girls who died inside a blazing school. ... The al-Eqtisadiah daily said firemen scuffled with members of the religious police, also known as "mutaween," after they tried to keep the girls inside the burning building because they did not wear head scarves and abayas (black robes) as required by the kingdom's strict interpretation of Islam."

03-12-2002 Kabul, Afghanistan (San Francisco Chronicle) Post-Taliban mosques sit empty Afghans rethink Islam after heavy-handed enforcement ends. "The Taliban's strict approach to Islam forced every Afghan to be a radical Muslim. For the six years the militia ruled the country, men had to go to the mosque seven times a day and grow long beards — or face public beatings or even jail. Women had to quit their jobs, cover their faces and their entire bodies with burqas, and leave their houses only with their husbands or fathers.
But now that the hard-line movement's strong grip on Afghan society has been released — even in the countryside, where support for it was strongest — some people are not sure they want to be Muslim at all."

03-11-2002 Washington, DC (Fox News) U.S. Islamic Schools Teaching Homegrown Hate "With the massive immigration of Muslims over recent decades — primarily because of the wretchedness of most native Islamic states — these parochial schools are increasing. Throughout America now are 200 to 600 Islamic day schools, teaching at least 30,000 full-time students and thousands more on weekends. The Washington Islamic Academy, outside the nation's capital, teaches some 1,300 kids, including children of Arabic-speaking diplomats. It may rank among the worst of these academies, as it is funded by Saudi money. Its high school textbook, in the reporters' words, "says one sign of the Day of Judgment will be that Muslims will fight and kill Jews, who will hide behind trees that say: 'Oh Muslim, Oh servant of God, here is a Jew hiding behind me. Come here and kill him.'"

03-11-2002 Washington, DC (Washington Post) A Closer Look at Islamic Schools. "The Islamic Saudi Academy, which educates the children of Arabic-speaking diplomats and is funded by the Saudi government, employs a curriculum that reflects the particularly rigid strain of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia ["Where Two Worlds Collide," front page, Feb. 25]. Saudi Arabia is supposed to be a member of the coalition against terror, yet it is exporting to schools on our shores an ideology that supports terror over civics."

03-09-2002 Kingston, ON (Toronto Star) Canada at risk from terrorists, CSIS agent says. "Islamic militants, dozens of whom are already in this country, could well be planning acts of terror against Canadians on Canadian soil, a senior Canadian intelligence agent said yesterday. "The threat is real, it's immediate, it's here," Michael Kelly with the counterterrorism branch of the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) told a counterterrorism symposium at Royal Military College. ... He said that in the 1990s, Muslim radicals saw Canada mainly as a safe harbour, an outpost from which they could engage in fundraising, recruitment and other activities to support terrorist networks abroad."

03-08-2002 United Nations (BCC) Women's Day highlights Afghan plight. "The United Nations is marking this year's International Women's Day (IWD) by focusing on the plight of women in Afghanistan."

03-08-2002 Jakarta, Indonesia (CNN) Mulsim cleric to sue Singapore government. "An Indonesian Muslim cleric has filed a $100 million slander suit against the Singapore government. Abu Bakar Bashir heads the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI), a group that campaigns for the enactment of Islamic law in Indonesia."

03-07-2002 NJ, USA (Star-Ledger) They hate us because we're right. "Turning our attention to the Muslim world is not likely to produce the harmony Zogby desires. If we judge the many Islamic nations by the same criteria we judge our own religious leaders, those poll numbers are likely to sink into the single digits. Imagine, for example, that the Pope tomorrow declared that no Jews or Protestants could enter Vatican City. Imagine if he declared that only Catholicism could be practiced in Italy. We would think him insane. Yet that is the unquestioned system in Saudi Arabia today."

03-07-2002 Rome, Italy (Christian Science Monitor) Italian police explore Al Qaeda links in cyanide plot. "During a raid on a small Roman apartment frequented by alleged Arabic terrorists arrested at dawn last Friday, police found videos of decapitations and suicide bombings, plus political propaganda for a holy war. ... Salafism, a philosophy shared by bin Laden, is a pan-Islamic movement advocating a return to the purity of the roots of Islam, as Mohammed and his companions practiced it."

03-05-2002 Washington, DC (Jang, Pakistan International News) Terrorists present in US, Afghanistan, says Mubarak. "You have several (terror) organizations in the United States. Now they are all sleeping, keeping very quiet as if they are very innocent, until they feel there is some freedom. Then they are going to attack," he warned."

03-05-2002 Saudia Arabia (Guardian, UK) Channel 4 exposes Saudi police torture. "The Filipino torture victims were seized from prayer meetings by the Saudi religious police, the muttawa, who took them to Al Milaz prison. Drawings smuggled out of the jail depict the Christians being lashed by prison guards, who urged them to confess to being priests and to convert to Islam."

03-04-2002 San Antonio, TX (AP) Death toll rising in India. "Muslims began the wave of violence that has gripped Gujarat since last Wednesday, when a group of them attacked a trainload of Hindu nationalists and set it on fire. The 58 deaths provoked a retaliatory rampage by Hindus. Most of those killed since then have been Muslims, many burned alive by vengeful Hindus. On Sunday, authorities said the violence was subsiding in Gujarat, although another 13 people died."

03-03-2002 Dubai, UAE (Gulf News) Arab youth urged to help intifada. "Addressing delegations of young men from 15 Arab countries, Abdullah Al Owais, Director General of the department, stressed that young people in the Arab world can play an integral role in fostering the Palestinian uprising and destroying Israeli arrogance that disrespects international agreements."

03-03-2002 Jerusalem, Israel (FoxNews) Suicide Bombing Rocks Ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem Neighborhood. "As the Jewish Sabbath ended and residents poured from synagogues into the winding alleyways of Mea Shearim, the bomber set off explosives as he stood near a group of people, police said."

03-02-2002 New York, NY (NY Times) Radical New Views of Islam and the Origins of the Koran. "The caution is not surprising. Salman Rushdie's "Satanic Verses" received a fatwa because it appeared to mock Muhammad. The Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz was stabbed because one of his books was thought to be irreligious. And when the Arab scholar Suliman Bashear argued that Islam developed as a religion gradually rather than emerging fully formed from the mouth of the Prophet, he was injured after being thrown from a second- story window by his students at the University of Nablus in the West Bank. Even many broad-minded liberal Muslims become upset when the historical veracity and authenticity of the Koran is questioned."

February

02-27-2002 Princeton, NJ (CNN) Poll: Muslims call U.S. 'ruthless, arrogant'. "Most Muslims surveyed expressed the view that the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States were not justified morally, but larger majorities labeled U.S. military action in Afghanistan "morally unjustifiable."  Sixty-one percent said they did not believe Arab groups carried out the September 11 terrorist attacks."

02-21-2002 London, England (BBC News) Cleric charged with inciting murder. "Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal allegedly "encouraged others to murder persons unknown", a Scotland Yard spokesman said on Wednesday."

02-17-2002 London, England (The Observer) AK-47 training held at London mosque. "The disclosures that hardline Islamists practised with Kalashnikov AK-47s at the Finsbury Park mosque in north London underline the pivotal role that Britain has played in the recruitment of volunteers to fight alongside Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda group all over the world."

02-16-2002 Singapore (ChannelNewsAsia) Healthy marriage programme launched to address high Muslim divorces. "Marriages involving Muslim teenagers are four to five times higher than that of civil marriages. ... pre-marital pregnancy was the main reason for such teen marriages."

02-12-2002 London, England (telegraph.co.uk) Bid to build alliance with Islam. "FOREIGN Secretary Jack Straw is flying to Turkey for a joint conference to strengthen ties between the West and Islam after the September 11 attacks. The Forum on the Harmony of Civilisations in Istanbul will bring together ministers from European Union countries and from the 57 member states of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC)."

02-11-2002 Farmville, VA (Washington Times) Islamist hide-outs in Virginia. "A radical Muslim sect with ties to international terrorism is seeking to create a patchwork of "hide-outs" in rural southern Virginia for would-be terrorists and other extremists, according to law-enforcement authorities here."

02-11-2002 Singapore (Singapore Strait Times) Three countries targeted in attack plan. "Three terrorist hit squads - codenamed Jibril, the Arabic transliteration of Gabriel the archangel - agreed on simultaneous attacks in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. This is what they planned, as detailed in a 15-page document entitled Jihad Operation in Asia."

02-11-2002 Malaysia (BBC News) Muslim-Christian talks in Indonesia. "Warring Christians and Muslims from Indonesia's Moluccan Islands have begun two days of peace talks aimed at ending one of the bloodiest conflicts in South East Asia. ...Thousands of fighters arrived in the Moluccas, previously known as the Spice Islands, in mid-2000, attacking and burning dozens of Christian villages. The violence calmed down a little last year. The group's leaders say their aim is to eradicate Christianity in the Moluccas."

January

01-25-2002 Cave Junction, OR (WorldNetDaily) Rift grows between U.S., Saudi Arabia Riyadh makes peace with Iran, Iraq, distances itself from Washington. "Crown Prince Abdullah, Saudi Arabia's de facto monarch, quietly negotiated a series of secret agreements with the anti-American regimes of Iran and Iraq. Those pacts effectively gave birth to a new Riyadh-Baghdad-Tehran bloc for the Gulf and Middle East regions."

01-25-2002 Washington, DC (Washington Times) U.S. hits China with sanctions over arms sales. "The Bush administration imposed economic sanctions on China yesterday after Beijing was caught selling chemical- and biological-weapons equipment to Iran. It was the second time in four months that sanctions were imposed on China for its sales of weapons of mass destruction, products and missile goods."

01-24-2002 Jakarta, Indonesia (ABC News, Reuters) Indonesian Muslim Cleric Says Bin Laden a Hero. "In a statement handed to reporters following the questioning, Abu Bakar Bashir described bin Laden as a "true Islamic warrior" for taking on the West. "I am not a member of al Qaeda, however I highly praise the fight of Osama bin Laden who has dared to represent the Islamic world to fight the United States...and its allies," the statement read."

01-23-2002 Jerusalem, Israel (CNSNews) Growing Concern Over Iranian Campaign To Destroy the Jewish State. ""The day is approaching in which the Islamic world will possess atomic weapons," Rafsanjani said in the speech in December. "On that day, the strategy of the West will hit a dead-end - since a single atomic bomb has the power to completely destroy Israel, while an Israeli counter-strike can only cause partial damage to the Islamic world," he added.''

01-23-2002 Beijing China (Bloomberg News) Afghanistan's Abdullah Links Al-Qaeda With Chinese Separatists. "Terrorists groups from Xinjiang province were operating in Afghanistan under the command of al-Qaeda,'' Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah told reporters in Beijing. "They were not there alone for the cause of Afghanistan. The program was to use the soil of Afghanistan for their own purposes.''

01-23-2002 Washington, DC (Fox News) 8 Suspects Caught in India Shooting. "Police arrested five Bangladeshis and detained three Indian teachers at an Islamic school for suspected involvement in an attack on a U.S. cultural center, officials said Wednesday."

01-23-2002 Washington, DC (Fox News) Military Eases Policy Requiring Women to Wear Muslim Garb in Saudi Arabia. "Reversing a policy in place since the 1991 Gulf War, the military now will tell servicewomen that wearing the abaya robe "is not mandatory but is strongly encouraged." Gen. Tommy Franks, head of the U.S. Central Command, e-mailed the new policy to commanders in the region Saturday."

01-23-2002 Fort Lauderdale, FL (Sun-Sentinel, Florida) Leaders not such eager martyrs. "For decades -- and continuing now -- militant Islamic fundamentalists have taught their impressionable youngsters the merits or martyrdom. With promises of fantastic proportions, such as performing Allah's work, eternal heaven and numerous virgins at their disposal, they see the noble deed of killing the infidels as an act of greatness. Where is the dedication and desire for virtue and martyrdom on the part of their leaders?"

01-22-2002 Jerusalem, Israel (Israel Insider) Talk of reopening Temple Mount to non-Muslims sparks tension. "Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans to reopen the Temple Mount compound to Jewish and non-Muslim visitors "at the first opportunity," Ha'aretz reported on Monday."

01-21-2002 Baghdad, Iraq (Herald Sun, Melbourne City, Australia) US can't halt Arabs buying arms: Iraq. "THE US will not be able to prevent Arab nations from acquiring weapons of mass destruction "whether overtly or covertly" in order to offset Israel's arsenal of such weapons, an Iraqi government newspaper said yesterday."

01-21-2002 Jamrud, Pakistan (Washington Times) Sale of children thrives in Pakistan. "Dozens of locals say Afghan girls between the ages of 5 and 17 sell for $80 to $100. The price depends on the colors of their eyes and skin; if they are virgins, the price is higher....The girls generally are sold into prostitution or, if they are lucky, they may join harems in the Middle East."

01-21-2002 Jerusalem, Israel (Jerusalem Post) Christian leaders 'afraid' to speak out about mosque. "Opponents of the mosque, who include the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land and the International Coalition for Nazareth, said they are asking the government to stop the intimidation of Christians and Muslims in Nazareth by "extremist elements." They said local residents told them that every night cars drive through the city with loudspeakers blaring anti-Christian and anti-Israel propaganda."

01-20-2002 Jakarta, Indonesia (Asia Times) Indonesian militants a law unto themselves. "Reports abound that Laskar Jihad members often threaten to kill local Muslim leaders who want to make peace with the Christians."

01-15-2002 Washington, DC (Washington Times) Anglican priest believes West is underestimating zeal of Islam. "Here I am highly critical of church leaders. I think they failed their own country because they did not have the courage to break with what was going on and they did not have the insight to see what needs to be done. The Muslims found a very vulnerable people who were open to their ideas."

01-15-2002 Yogyakarta, Indonesia (BBC) Indonesian radical calls for Islamic law. "A radical Islamic leader in Indonesia, who is currently being investigated by the police for alleged links with Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, has called for the implementation of strict Islamic or Sharia law."

01-15-2002 Jakarta, Indonesia (Jakarta Post) Only 50% of invitees attend seminar on 'syariah'. "Their main aim is to place pressure on the 2002 Annual Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to amend the Constitution so it is in line with Islamic laws."

01-13-2002 Sidney, Australia (Hindustan Times) Tape shows Al-Qaeda rehearsing for mass murder of world leaders "The video tape, obtained by Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV, also showed militants rehearsing a hostage situation where they screamed their commands in English and shot one hostage dead. "

01-13-2002 Islamabad, Pakistan (Strait Times) Islamic groups vow to defy Musharraf ban . "Hardline Islamic groups vowed on Sunday to defy a government crackdown on their activities after a two-day nationwide police sweep netted more than 600 of their activists and sealed several offices."

01-11-2002 New York, NY (MSNBC News) U.S. pilot challenges Saudi robes. "There’s no reason in the world now that we’ve got the women who lived under the Taliban to throw away those burqas if they want to, that American women who are in the military are continuing to have to dress that way in Saudi Arabia," says Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y."

01-10-2002 Jakarta, Indonesia (Strait Times) Islamic groups hinder hunt for terrorists. "The hunt by Malaysian police for two Indonesian preachers suspected of involvement with a Malaysian terrorist group faces difficulties because key Islamic organisations in Indonesia oppose any clampdown on terrorists."

01-09-2002 Portland, Oregon (Oregonian) Terrorists raised cash in Oregon, Smith says. "Oregon has been a hub of terrorist fund-raising, particularly Corvallis and Portland State University, U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith says, and he has asked the U.S. Justice Department to take action."

01-06-2002 Dallas, Texas (Newsweek) Odyssey Into Jihad. "April Ray might be just another struggling young American mother, except for the fact that her husband was, for a couple of years, the personal secretary of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. How did a suburban Dallas housewife become a bride of the monstrous Al Qaeda?"

01-04-2002 Islamabad, Pakistan (The Times, London) Pakistani terrorists threaten Taj Mahal. "A MILITANT Islamic group responsible for a spate of bloody attacks in India threatened yesterday to step up its campaign and even target the country’s most famous monument, the Taj Mahal.''

01-02-2002 Jakarta, Indonesia (The Straits Times) Many Muslim Indonesians say they want an Islamic state.

"Intolerance: Almost 80% want other faiths outlawed
Discrimination: 79.6 per cent think the government should outlaw groups that follow other faiths, political beliefs or have a different ethnicity; 72.5 per cent think members of these groups should not teach in public schools
Islamic state: 58 per cent support an Islamic government led by Muslim clerics, 23 per cent oppose it. 
Syariah law: 61 per cent say the government should enforce it on every Muslim "