07-04-2003 QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) Attack on Pakistan Mosque Leaves 47 Dead. "A suicide attack on a packed mosque killed as many as 47 people Friday, sending enraged Shiite Muslims on a rampage through this southwestern city. The government called in troops and imposed a curfew to try to quell the violence. Scores more were wounded in one of the bloodiest attacks in a long series of assaults on the country's Shiite Muslim minority."

07-04-2003 England (WND) Petition to Muslims:Stop killing converts, Urges reform of apostasy law mandating death for leaving Islam. "A British charity has issued a petition challenging Muslim leaders to call for reform or reinterpretation of the Islamic law of apostasy. Under Shariah, or Islamic law, Muslims who convert to another faith and refuse to repent must be put to death. The petition by the England-based Barnabas Fund asks for signatures from those who believe "Muslims who choose to convert to another faith should be free to do so without having to face a lifetime of fear." The group acknowledges the tradition is upheld and taught by most Muslim religious leaders around the world. But it notes a reformist interpretation that claims an apostate can be put to death only if he also is a danger to the Islamic state. Traditionalists insist, nevertheless, every apostate is a danger to the Islamic social order and has committed high treason."

07-04-2003 QUETTA, Pakistan (CNN) Pakistan mosque blast kills eight. "At least eight people were killed and several were injured when an explosion ripped through a Shi'ite mosque in southwestern Pakistan, police said. Attackers set off the explosives about 1:30 p.m. local time as the mosque was packed with worshippers holding Friday prayers."

07-02-2003 BALI, Indonesia (Courier Mail) Men tell of desire to be suicide bombers. "SEVERAL would-be suicide bombers have told terrorism trials in Bali they had arrived on the island to commit jihad and die as martyrs. ... The witnesses said they were committed to becoming "shahid bombers" or suicide bombers, sacrificing their own lives in the name of Islam. Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty and Bali's police chief, Made Mangku Pastika, also confirmed yesterday that terrorists in the region had become more committed and were using crimes like robberies to finance their operations."

07-02-2003 FALLUJAH, Iraq (CNN) U.S. blames bomb-makers for mosque blast. "U.S. Central Command said Wednesday that the explosion that destroyed a building in the compound of a Fallujah mosque early Tuesday was "apparently related to a bomb-manufacturing class that was being taught inside the mosque" — and did not involve U.S. forces."

June

06-04-2003 Sudan (WND) Islamists burn to death Christian pastor, family: Massacre of 59 came as Sudan discussed removal from terror list. "Military forces led by Sudan's militant Islamist regime burned to death a Christian pastor and his family in a massacre of 59 unarmed villagers, a relief group working in the area reported. ... Sudan's cleric-backed National Islamic Front regime in the Arab and Muslim north declared a jihad on the mostly Christian and animist south in 1989. Since 1983, an estimated 2 million people have died from war and related famine. About 5 million have become refugees. ... Jacob Gadet Manyiel, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Sudan, and his wife and four children were burned to death as government soldiers stood outside their house and threatened to shoot anyone trying to escape."

06-02-2003 Sudan (WND) U.S. to forgive Sudan for 2 million deaths? Washington to overlook genocide, atrocities for new strategic relationship. "The U.S. is prepared to overlook the deaths of 2 million mostly Christian Sudanese in return for a new strategic relationship with Khartoum, ... State Department officials say they are on the verge of removing Sudan from its list of "terror countries," where it was placed in 1997 by the Clinton administration."

May

05-09-2003 TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Iranian lawmakers call on Khamenei to swallow poison and implement reforms to avoid collapse of Islamic establishment. "Some 130 reformist lawmakers called on Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to accept democratic reforms for the ruling establishment to survive. .... Signed by 127 lawmakers, the letter said the only solution for saving Iran's Islamic theocracy was to carry out "fundamental changes" in unelected institutions controlled by hard-liners and to respect the voted reforms by implementing them. It said the murder of political opponents, mass closure of pro-democracy publications, imprisonment of writers and political activists, and rejection of all pro-reform bills by Khamenei-appointed hard-liners have made elections "meaningless.""

05-09-2003 PESHAWAR, Pakistan, (NJ.com) Islamic hard-liners call for compulsory Quran lessons, ban on men giving medical tests to women. "Islamic hard-liners controlling Pakistan's northernmost province called for compulsory reading of the Quran in schools and said only women should carry out medical tests on female patients. The demands were made in two resolutions passed unanimously Thursday by lawmakers in the legislature of North West Frontier Province. Under parliamentary rules, the unanimous backing means the regional government is obliged to put them into law, adding to a string of rule changes intended to bring the province into line with Islamic sharia law."

05-08-2003 Washington, DC, (Tallahassee Democrat) Evangelicals Condemn Anti-Islam Remarks. "Leading evangelical Christians for the first time have publicly condemned assaults on Islam by the Rev. Franklin Graham and other fellow religious conservatives and pledged to heal rifts with Muslims that threaten missionary work overseas.'"

April

04-18-2003 Baghdad, Iraq, (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) WAR IN THE GULF: OVERVIEW: PROTESTS: Iraqi Muslims denounce U.S. "Thousands of demonstrators poured into the streets of Baghdad after Friday prayers to protest the U.S. presence in Iraq and demand an Islamic state to replace Saddam Hussein's secular government. The protests underscored the problem the United States faces as Iraq's power vacuum increasingly unnerves a people accustomed to iron rule. In one of the first spontaneous public demonstrations in decades, Shiite and Sunni Muslims alike waved banners and chanted slogans including, ''No to Bush, No to Saddam, Yes to Islam'' and ''Leave our country, we want peace.''"

04-17-2003 NAJAF, Iraq, (The Ledger) Shiite Clerics Rise to Power in Iraqi Cities, Are Skeptical of U.S. "In this holiest of Muslim Shiite cities, clerics are running a self-declared government. It's the same in nearby Karbala, another sacred Shiite city. Muslim Shiite clerics have in the past week moved swiftly to fill the power void created by Saddam Hussein's ouster — appointing governors; imposing curfews; offering protection, jobs and health care; and giving financial assistance to the needy. In some respects, they have replaced Saddam as Iraq's new leadership. They distrust the Americans who rid them of Saddam's tyranny and have little faith in the opposition leaders now returning to Iraq from years in exile. They also question whether Western democratic values are suited for their country."

04-17-2003 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, (CNN) Death for Pakistani 'honor killer'. "A man who killed seven members of his family because he was angered by his daughter's decision to marry a Christian has been sentenced to death. ... He insisted, however, he committed the crime to protect the honor of his family after his daughter announced her intention to marry a Christian boy, Ali said. ... Honor killings in the Islamic nation are not uncommon. According to Pakistan's main human rights body, at least 461 women were killed by their family members in "honor killings" in 2002, indicating an increase from the year before. About 97 percent of Pakistan's 145 million people are Muslim, while most of the remaining three percent are Christian."

04-15-2003 ARIS, France, (NY Times, International) French Threaten Expulsions After Islam Radical Victory. "France's interior minister threatened today to expel any Muslim religious leader considered extremist after a fundamentalist Muslim organization unexpectedly won a large number of seats in an election for the country's first national council of Muslims. ... The group that made a surprisingly strong showing in the election is the Union of Islamic Organizations in France. It preaches a strict, conservative interpretation of Islam, derives much of its support from the poor suburbs of Paris and other major cities and is said to derive its inspiration from the banned fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, which originated in Egypt. It won 14 of 41 seats in the governing administrative council."

04-15-2003 Washington, DC, (Miami Herald) Muslims demand Pentagon to rescind Graham invitation. "Outraged American Muslims are urging the Pentagon to rescind an invitation for a prominent Christian evangelist who has harshly criticized Islam to appear at a prayer service Friday. Franklin Graham, the son of the Rev. Billy Graham, will deliver a homily at a Good Friday prayer service at the Pentagon, a spokesperson said. Franklin Graham called Islam "a very evil and wicked religion" after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a comment he has refused to recant. Graham heads Samaritan's Purse, a fundamentalist Christian organization with a $194 million budget for humanitarian aid and ministry. The group, known for its active proselytizing, has workers in Jordan and is poised to deliver aid in Iraq."

04-15-2003 PHILADELPHIA,PA, (Miami Herald) Bush Nominates Daniel Pipes To Board Of US Institute Of Peace: Moderate Muslims Welcome the Appointment. "American Muslims welcome the nomination of Daniel Pipes, a scholar of militant Islam and director of the Middle East Forum, by President Bush to serve on the board of the US Institute of Peace. They note in particular his care to distinguish between the minority of Islamists and the majority of normal, patriotic Muslims. Many moderate American Muslims, frustrated by and angry at the extremist policies of militant Islamist organizations in the US and their efforts to portray themselves as the sole voice of Islam, have welcomed the nomination of Daniel Pipes."

March

03-31-2003 BIYARE, Iraq, (Miami Herald) Raid finds al-Qaida tie to militants. "A U.S.-led assault on a compound controlled by an Iraqi-based extremist Islamic group has turned up a list of names of suspected militants living in the United States and what may be the strongest evidence yet linking Ansar al-Islam to al-Qaida, coalition commanders said Monday."

03-31-2003 LONDON, England, (UK Telegraph) Routed Islamists had UK links, say Kurds. "Jubilant Kurdish forces say they have found hundreds of documents with contact addresses and telephone numbers in London and the Arab world in the camp of the routed Muslim terrorist group Ansar al-Islam in northern Iraq. The claim, made after American special forces and Kurdish guerrillas routed Ansar in a ferocious three-day battle, could be vital for determining the strength of the long-claimed connection between Ansar and the al-Qa'eda network."

03-11-2003 AMMAN, Jordan, (Washington Post) Scholars Urge Jihad In Event of Iraq War: Cairo Center Declares All Muslims Threatened . "Islamic scholars at Cairo's Al-Azhar University, the preeminent seat of Sunni Muslim learning in the Arab world, have declared a U.S. attack on Iraq would threaten all Arabs and Muslims and urged a jihad to defend their interests."

03-02-2003 PASADENA, Ca., (Pasadena Star) Fuller awarded $1 million grant: Funding for Christian-Muslim dialogue. "Fuller Theological Seminary has been awarded $1 million in federal funding to start a program of Muslim-Christian dialogue to seek peace through mutual understanding. "The Quran and Hebrew and Christian Scriptures are often misunderstood on both sides,' said David Augsburger, a Fuller professor of pastoral care and a counseling and conflict resolution expert. "The perspectives that emphasize peace are not as perceived as they should be.' ... Fuller has selected six professors for a committee that also will include six Muslim scholars, Augsburger said."

February

02-18-2003 Europe, (Jewish World Review) When have millions of Europeans ever been wrong? "Indeed, America is the chief impediment to the spread of both Islam and socialism. This explains the unity of leftist and Muslim activists. Though theoretically they have nothing in common, as Osama bin Laden just announced, "in the current circumstances, the interests of Muslims coincide with the interests of the socialists" — opposing America."

02-18-2003 AMMAN,Jordan (Al Bawaba) Jordanian journalists sentenced to jail for defaming prophet . "Three Jordanian journalists were sentenced to jail on Monday by the State Security Court for publishing an article last month that touched on the sexual life of the Prophet Mohammed. The journalists faced charges of insulting Islam and damaging the prestige of the state with the article published in al-Hilal weekly."

02-12-2003 Vancouver, BC, (WorldNetDaily) Tony Campolo: Misinformed, bad theology. "Campolo conveniently forgets that some 750,000 Jews – all living in Israel today – were kicked out of their homes in Arab and Muslim countries like Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Yemen, etc. They were forced out with little more than the clothes on their backs. Many didn't make it at all. Many died in pogroms before they got the chance to leave.'"

02-07-2003 Washington DC, (Saratogian) Schumer: Radical Muslim cleric kept moderates from preaching in state prisons. "A radical Muslim cleric who was fired by the state prison system Wednesday has prevented more moderate Muslims from ministering in the state prisons — including Mount McGregor in Wilton and Great Meadow in Washington County — for more than 20 years, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said Thursday. The state has 40 paid Muslim chaplains. They serve 9,862 Muslim inmates, or about 15 percent of the inmate population. The fired cleric, Warith Deen Umar of Albany County, has hired imams from the more militant Wahhabi branch of Sunni Islam, Schumer said. ''My worry is that within our own prison system, we may be creating recruits for al-Qaida,'' Schumer said. ''We might have done so already.''"

02-07-2003 Washington DC, (Washington Times) Textbooks said to 'hide' problems with Islam. "World history textbooks in U.S. classrooms sanitize the problems of Islam when compared to how they often treat Western civilization, a review of seven widely used texts reported yesterday. The study, released by the American Textbook Council, said a rosy treatment of Islam may arise from the lobbying of the Council on Islamic Education on national publishers. "When any dark side [of Islam] surfaces, textbooks run and hide," said the report, "Islam and the Textbooks," by Gilbert Sewall, a former professor who directs the council. "Subjects such as jihad and the advocacy of violence among militant Islamists to attain worldly ends, the imposition of [Shariah] law, the record of Muslim enslavement, and the brutal subjection of women are glossed over," the 35-page study says."

02-07-2003 Australia (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Islam and apostasy. "Ibn Warraq: Well, yes and no. I think one of the paradoxical results of greater education – in fact, if you look at the composition of the various Islamic fundamentalist groups in modern times, you will see that the most tolerant Muslims are not the ones who are educated, but the uneducated people in the countryside, the rural poor, who don’t actually know precisely what is in the Koran, since they cannot read the difficult Arabic. Islamic fundamentalism is very much an urban phenomenon of people who are educated, or able to read the Koran and take it very literally."

02-04-2003 AMMAN, Jordan, (IndianExpress, Bombay) Prophet’s wife lands scribes in court. "Handcuffed, their oversized prison uniforms dragging on the floor, three Arab men were led through a bare courtroom to an iron cage. They are on trial for publishing an article about the sex life of the prophet Muhammad’s wife Aisha. The three Jordanian journalists — who worked for Al Hilal — are accused of ‘‘harming the reputation of the government, harming the dignity of Muslims’’ and ‘‘destabilizing society by publishing perversity and false news.’’ ... The article describes Aisha, one of the Prophet’s several wives. It claims that Muhammad married her when she was a child and began to have sex with her when she was 8 or 9, ‘‘gaining the sexual potency of 40 men.’’ Aisha claimed Muhammad had divine revelations in which the word of God was conveyed by the angel Gabriel when she was in bed with him, the article says."

02-03-2003 LONDON, England, (Ananova, UK) Shuttle crash is God's punishment, says Hamza. "Muslim cleric Abu Hamza says the US shuttle disaster shows the mission was a 'Trinity of Evil' [USA, Israel, India] punished with death by Allah. Mr Hamza made the claim because the Columbia carried Americans, Israeli Ilan Ramon and Kalpana Chawla, an Indian-born Hindu. He says British Muslims would take the shuttle disaster as a "sign from God" that the first Israeli in space was killed over an area of Texas called Palestine."

January

01-29-2003 NAIROBI, Kenya, (Independent, UK) Boys rescued from Kenya's Islamic school of torture. "Eleven teenage boys have been rescued from an Islamic correction centre in Nairobi where they were chained, tortured, and indoctrinated with violent anti-Christian ideas. Armed police raided the school in a rundown Nairobi neighbourhood after Guleed Ahmed, a 16-year-old from Leicester, faked an illness to escape and raise the alarm. Inside they found 10 other boys, from Kenya, Sweden and Ethiopia, chained by their hands and feet and confined to a dark, foul-smelling room."

01-29-2003 Jordan, (WorldNetDaily) Christian mother ordered jailed: Jordanian mom refuses to hand over kids to be raised as Muslims. "A court in northern Jordan has ordered a Christian widow to jail for 30 days if she refuses to hand over her two minor children to be raised as Muslims, reports news service Compass Direct. According to the report, a warrant for Siham Qandah's arrest was issued Jan. 16. On Jan. 20, she was informed by phone that she was to surrender custody of her daughter Rawan, 14, and son Fadi, 12, to their court-appointed Muslim guardian. Jordan claims that before his death several years ago, Qandah's Christian husband secretly converted to Islam, making his children Muslims under Jordanian law."

01-25-2003 CAIRO, Egypt, (Strait Times) Disunited and confused, Muslims have lost their way. "Muslims have reached their lowest point, says Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Speaking at the Al-Azhar University in Cairo on Wednesday, he said that rather than fighting over interpretations of Islam and working towards heavenly rewards alone, Muslims should aim for economic, military and scientific strength. Here are excerpts of his speech.

"....So the idea that we must suffer in silence and await our heaven in the next world is not Islamic. In fact, it goes against the Sunnah (sayings and traditions) of the Prophet. The Quran enjoins upon us to prepare to deter and defeat the enemy with force of arms - with war horses, bows and arrows in those days. Today, we need guns and rockets, warships and warplanes, armoured cars. We cannot depend on others to supply us with these things forever, least of all those who are opposed to us. We need to invent, design, produce and test our own weapons of defence. To do this, we need to have scientific and technological knowledge and skills. Those who learn science and mathematics and acquire technological skills are obeying and fulfilling the injunctions of Islam."

01-23-2003 CAIRO, Egypt, (World Tribune) Sunni Muslims: Having modern nukes 'a religious obligation' "The Islamic Ruling Committee in Al Azhar, based in Cairo, ruled that Islamic states must acquire nuclear weapons for their defense. The committee is regarded as the highest authority for Sunni Muslims in the Middle East, according to Middle East Newsline. "The acquisition of modern nuclear weaponry is a religious obligation," the committee said in a statement on Dec. 23. The statement came in response to a question in Islamic law sent to Sheik Ala A-Shanawi who said the founder of Islam, Mohammed, would have acquired a nuclear bomb to fight his enemies."

01-22-2003 LONDON, England, (CNN) Sheikh 'waged religious war'. "A Muslim cleric encouraged his pupils to wage chemical and nuclear war against non-believers as part of an Islamic holy war, a British court was told. Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal preached that the use of chemical and nuclear weapons was justified in order to exterminate "the enemy" and create a worldwide Islamic state, London's Old Bailey court heard on Wednesday."

01-23-2003 Hong Kong, (Asia Times) Global jihad and the European arena. "This presentation focuses on two elements: the phenomenon of global jihad and its implications on Europe and Muslim communities in Europe. In the international war against world terrorism, primarily the Islamist one, there have been many arrests, interrogations and investigations of terrorists or suspected terrorists and sympathizers, in Europe. They seemed so far to focus on the operational levels, but not enough on the cultural and social infrastructure of this phenomenon. Arresting terrorists or suspected as such is vital. Yet, the work is not completed if European countries such as Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, Sweden or Poland are hosting radical Islamist websites for example, that feed on a daily basis, the radical messages of the supporters of the "Culture of global jihad." Intelligence and security services should, while fighting terrorism, concentrate also on gathering information that will supply them the better understanding of the ideological, cultural, educational, and social factors of this dangerous phenomenon, in order to counter it efficiently."

01-22-2003 KABUL, Afghanistan, (CNN) Al Qaeda terror strategy turns to assassination. "Al Qaeda has been associated with high-profile, explosive terror -- September 11, bombings in Pakistan, Kenya, Indonesia and the Philippines -- but appears to be turning from mass killings to the assassination of political figures. Coalition intelligence sources tell CNN that al Qaeda plans to target Western diplomats and other public officials wherever it can."

01-22-2003 Iran, (Al Bawaba) Iranian authorities seize musical instruments. "Authorities in a southwestern Iranian province seized musical instruments on the basis they were the cause of "depraved" scenes behind closed doors, a local official was quoted as saying Tuesday."

01-19-2003 AMMAN, Jordan, (Washington Times) Jordan detains journalists on Islam. "Three Jordanian journalists accused of slandering Prophet Mohammad and Islamic values were remanded to custody Sunday and their weekly publication was closed indefinitely. ... The military prosecution accused the editors of insulting Islam in an article in its latest issue discussing one of Prophet Mohammad's wives, Aisha. The article, "Aisha -- God divinely prevented flies from landing on her body," was deemed offensive."

01-21-2003 JERUSALEM, Israel, (Detroit News) Draft Palestinian constitution creates premier who answers to president, declares Islam official religion. "A proposed Palestinian constitution cedes some power from the president to a prime minister and declares Islam the official religion, according to a partial draft obtained Monday by The Associated Press."

01-18-2003 London, England, (The Times) Contemporary views of Islam. "Is apostasy punishable by death in Islam? The answer is a categorical no. There is neither any such teaching in the Holy Quran nor any example to be found in the life of the Holy Prophet of Islam. Islam does not permit its followers to take any life because of religious difference."

01-14-2003 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, (Asia Times) Madrassas: A make-believe world. "I lost my sight for a while as I entered the dark, cold room, but as my eyes adjusted, I made out the figure of a small boy sitting on the rough floor, deep in concentration with a Koran, the Muslim holy book, in his hands. Fareed, only in the ninth year of his life, was totally oblivious to my presence and to his surroundings, so intent was he on memorizing the Koran, hunched up at the religious school or madrassa in Rawalpindi (the sister city of the capital Islamabad) of Tajweed-ul-Quraan. Fareed was enrolled at the seminary by his orthodox father, Ubaid Ullah, where he joined almost 500 other children with the aim to secure a place in heaven, where he believes that he will be able to play with black-eyed heavenly nymphs. ... Today, there are more than 10,000 registered religious schools in Punjab province alone, while in the whole of Pakistan there are more than 25,000, catering for more than 1.6 million children. In addition, a further 25,000 to 40,000 non-registered schools provide lessons on the Koran to an almost equal number students."

01-14-2003 Washington, (WorldNetDaily) Death sentence hangs over Arab Christians. "When Saeed and Nasser Salame, Arab brothers and residents of Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority, converted from Islam to Christianity, they didn't know it would cost them their homes, their friends – possibly even their lives. Saeed Salam was an active member of Fatah, Arafat's own party, when he converted. For this "crime" of conscience, he was imprisoned and tortured, according to a French Christian group and the Religious Freedom Council."

01-13-2003 LOS ANGELES, Ca (FrontPage Magazine) CAIR’s Axis of Evil. "It is time for CAIR and Hooper to abandon their contemptible campaign to present every inquiry into their character, and the nature of the Wahhabism they support, as a form of oppression. It is not persecution for Americans, and especially American Muslims, to demand an accounting of how Saudi Arabia, acting through CAIR, the Islamic Society of North America, and other components of the Wahhabi lobby, created an extremist "Islamic establishment" in America. Few will soon forget that 15 out of the 19 hijackers on September 11 were from Saudi Arabia, the only country whose Ministry of Religion is an official Wahhabi institution."

01-12-2003 Pakistan, (Daily Times) Fatwa calls Karzai infidel. "The pamphlet, delivered by unidentified men at Daily Times office in Mir Ali, South Waziristan Agency, cited Quranic verses to back the decree. It said Mr Karzai was helping ‘non-Muslims’ against Muslims and for that reason, he was an ‘infidel’. The decree, written in Pashto, stated, “Imams of all four religions agree that when a Muslim ruler becomes a shield of infidels against Islam’s Mujahideen, he also deserves to be killed.” It said, “Anyone who helps the ‘infidel’ army stands reason to be killed. Having trade relations with such people is also forbidden in Islam.” The decree said talking and meeting such people were also forbidden in Islam."

01-11-2003 Malaysia, (BBC News) Malaysian Islamist calls for stonings. "The spiritual leader of Malaysia's main Islamist opposition party, Pas, has called for people convicted of sex crimes to be stoned to death in public."

01-11-2003 Netherlands, (Telegraph UK) Somali refugee follows in Fortuyn's footsteps with attack on imams. "Just weeks ago she was in hiding, evading what amounted to a death sentence, after she said Islam was an oppressive, misogynist religion trapped in the 13th century that seemed to be at war with almost all non-followers. "I was provoked by some guys shouting at me in a TV debate," she said in precise, fluent English, almost at a whisper. "So I blurted out, 'It's my religion, and my culture, and I can call it backward if I want'. But I was also drawn into saying I was no longer a practising Muslim and that set it all off, because the punishment for leaving the faith is death."

01-08-2003 LONDON, England, (Times, London) First person: I found Christ but may lose my Muslim family. "What happens when a Muslim deserts Islam and embraces Christianity? The author says his family felt betrayed and he was rejected by his father - a deeply religious man who calls Al-Qaeda "martyrs"."

01-07-2003 TEHRAN, Iran, (Tehran Times) Leader Refers to Martyred Students as "Pioneers of Faith". "The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei here on Monday termed the honorable, martyred students of the country "pioneers of faith and devotion." In a message to a congress called "Honoring the Country's Martyred Students", the Leader stressed that today enemies of Islam are trying to undermine jihad (holy war) and the virtue of martyrdom."

01-06-2003 FrontPage Magazine, Islam's Immigrant Invasion of Europe. "In Germany the highest court in the land ruled in January 2002 that Muslim butchers should be allowed to slaughter animals according to Islamic practice, by slitting their throats and letting them bleed to death, and without stunning them first in any way. German law says animals cannot be slaughtered without first being stunned, but the constitutional court has now overturned it. The head of Germany’s Islamic Council, Hasan Oezdogan, declared that this will be “an important step in the integration of Muslims in Germany.” If and when the Constitutional Court allows clitoridectomy for Germany’s Muslim girls, presumably another important step will be made, but that integration will be complete only when Pakistanis in Britain, Algerians in France, and Turks in Germany turn the host country into an Islamic society by compelling it to adapt to their way of life."

01-06-2003 TORONTO, Canada, (National Post) Somali mosque apologizes for e-mail: Regrets offence to 'Christian neighbours'. "A Toronto mosque has apologized for a Christmas Day message that said wishing someone Merry Christmas is comparable to congratulating them for committing murder or engaging in adultery."

01-06-2003 KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, (China Daily, Beijing) Men want more wives as women cry foul. "Malaysia's Muslim men seem increasingly keen on polygamy, as women's groups try to curb husbands' rights to as many as four wives. One politician - a male - is so enthusiastic about the practice that he wants women who allow their husbands to marry a second wife to receive medals of honour. Women, however, don't seem too keen on the medals. "We want the legal system to restrict the practice of polygamy," said Ruzana Udin, the spokeswoman for Sisters In Islam (SIS)."

01-02-2003 PESHAWAR, Pakistan, (AP) Lawmakers in northwestern Pakistan vow to accelerate Islamization process. "Lawmakers in Pakistan's deeply conservative northwestern province promised Thursday to speed up the adoption of new laws based on Islamic teaching. The anti-American politicians in the North West Frontier Province came to power after elections late last year vowing to follow the lead of neighboring Afghanistan's former Taliban rulers, who enforced a strict interpretation of Islam, including banning women from any role in public life, and outlawing music and dance. ... Pointing to existing laws, police in the province have recently seized and burned videos deemed pornographic, which can mean men and women simply appearing together on screen. Scores of people have also been detained for producing or watching allegedly obscene films."