Arab Spring Brings the Decline of Secularism in Tunisia

By Aidan Clay – “TUNIS, TUNISIA (ANS) — Widely seen as the most secular country that recently deposed long-standing leaders, many believed that Tunisia had the greatest opportunity to elect a moderate government concerned with democratic principles and human rights. However, the hopes of secularists, Christians, and other minorities were crippled in October when the Islamist Ennahda party won 41 percent of the votes for a national constitutional assembly, a one-year body charged with writing a constitution.

Along with other Islamist movements, Ennahda – at the time called the Movement of the Islamic Tendency – had been outlawed under former President Zine El Abedine Ben Ali. Robin Wright, an American foreign affairs analyst and author of Sacred Rage, described the Islamic Tendency as ‘the single most threatening opposition force [to Ben Ali’s regime] in Tunis.’

Ennahda’s founder and chairman is Rashid Ghannouchi. He considers himself a pupil of Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini, defended the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979, and supported Saddam Hussein’s invasion and annexation of Kuwait in 1990. In a speech given in Khartoum just before the Gulf War erupted, Ghannouchi said, ‘We must wage unceasing war against the Americans until they leave the land of Islam, or we will burn and destroy all their interests across the entire Islamic world,’ The Brussels Journal reported.” Read more.

Tunisia, Egypt Islamists Signal Bigger Religion Role – “After months of reassuring secularist critics, Islamist politicians in Tunisia and Egypt have begun to lay down markers about how Muslim their states should be — and first signs show they want more religion than previously admitted. Islamist parties swept the first free elections in both countries in recent months after campaigns that stressed their readiness to work with the secularists they struggled with in the Arab Spring revolts against decades-long dictatorships.” Read more.

Flashback: Tunisia: Concerns Grow Over ‘Morality Police’ as Islamists Roam Streets Terrifying Women and Youth – “Bearded men roam the streets and batter with their batons those whom they perceive different from their sect, terrifying women and youths. Tunisian woman Monia Jawadi emphatically described what the country would look if it were to institutionalise its first morality police. Reports that Tunisia may establish a committee for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice have sent waves of anxiety among citizens, especially as the country struggles to preserve its social gains.” Read more.

Flashback: ‘A New Cycle of Civilization’: Tunisia’s Islamists Hail Arrival of the ‘Sixth Caliphate’ – “The Islamist politician likely to become Tunisia’s first democratically elected prime minister has alarmed liberals and secularists by claiming the arrival of the ‘sixth caliphate’, a controversial term for a Muslim empire. Hamadi Jebeli, secretary-general of Ennahda, the moderate Islamist party which romped to victory in last month’s elections, told a rally in the city of Sousse: ‘My brothers, you are at a historic moment in a new cycle of civilisation, God willing. We are in sixth caliphate…” Read more.

We’ll Mock Jesus But Not Mohammed, Says BBC Boss

Behold, the Boastful Bashers of Christianity. Because Christianity has “fewer ties to ethnicity.” And the fact that his life would be in danger if he mocked Mohammed might play a teeny-tiny part in there somewhere …

“The head of the BBC, Mark Thompson, has admitted that the broadcaster would never mock Mohammed like it mocks Jesus.

He justified the astonishing admission of religious bias by suggesting that mocking Mohammed might have the ’emotional force’ of ‘grotesque child pornography’.

But Jesus is fair game because, he said, Christianity has broad shoulders and fewer ties to ethnicity…

Mr Thompson says the BBC would never have broadcast Jerry Springer The Opera – a controversial musical that mocked Jesus – if its target had been Mohammed.

He made the remarks in an interview for a research project at the University of Oxford.

Mr Thompson said: ‘The point is that for a Muslim, a depiction, particularly a comic or demeaning depiction, of the Prophet Mohammed might have the emotional force of a piece of grotesque child pornography.’…

A BBC spokesman was unavailable for comment.

Last year former BBC news anchor Peter Sissons said Christians are ‘fair game’ for insults at the corporation, whilst Muslims must not be offended.

Mr Sissons, whose memoirs were serialised in the Daily Mail, said: ‘Islam must not be offended at any price, although Christians are fair game because they do nothing about it if they are offended.’

The former presenter also said that staff damage their careers if they don’t follow the BBC’s mindset.” Source – The Christian Institute.

Iran Says Making Nuclear Bombs a ‘Great Sin’ …

… for all of you non-Muslim infidels. Of course, what they won’t tell you is that because the West has nuclear weapons then Iran needs to have them too, evidenced by the fact that a Fatwa issued by Iranian clerics in 2006 explicitly stated that “shari’a [law] does not forbid the use of nuclear weapons” because “what is important is what goal they may be used for.” And we all know perfectly well what goal that would be …

By Caroline Copley – “GENEVA (Reuters) – Iran, facing growing international pressure over its nuclear program, called for more talks with the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Tuesday and condemned production of atomic weapons as a ‘great sin.’

Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful but negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have stalled and Western powers have grown increasingly concerned over the possible military dimensions of Tehran’s atomic work.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, in a speech to the U.N.-sponsored Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, said he expected talks to continue and that he was optimistic they would proceed in the right direction.

‘I would like to re-emphasize that we do not see any glory, pride or power in the nuclear weapons, quite the opposite based on the religious decree issued by our supreme leader, the production, possession, use or threat of use of nuclear weapons, are illegitimate, futile, harmful, dangerous and prohibited as a great sin,’ he said.

However many in the Western camp were skeptical, with the IAEA saying no further talks were scheduled, given what Western diplomats have described as Iran’s unwillingness to address allegations of military nuclear research.” Read more.

Flashback: Iran: ‘When the Entire World is Armed With Nuclear Weapons, it is Permissible to Use These Weapons as a Counter-[Measure]’ – “‘The spiritual leaders of the ultra-conservatives [in Iran] have accepted the use of nuclear weapons as lawful in the eyes of shari’a. Mohsen Gharavian, a disciple of [Ayatollah] Mesbah Yazdi [who is Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s spiritual mentor], has spoken for the first time of using nuclear weapons as a counter-measure. He stated that ‘in terms of shari’a, it all depends on the goal.’… [T]he IraNews news agency published recent remarks by Mohsen Gharavian regarding the nuclear issue. Gharavian is a lecturer at the religious schools of Qom, and is a disciple of [Ayatollah] Mesbah Yazdi. In his recent remarks, he said for the first time that the use of nuclear weapons may not constitute a problem according to shari’a. He further said that ‘when the entire world is armed with nuclear weapons, it is permissible to use these weapons as a counter-[measure]. According to shari’a, too, only the goal is important…'” Read more.

Researcher Reports Mosques in America Nearly Double Since 9/11, Calls Muslim Community ‘Healthy’ and ‘Well Integrated’

Interestingly enough, this CAIR-sponsored ‘researcher’ fails to mention the fact that 80% of all mosques in America teach their Muslim congregations to hate Jews and Christians and would love to see Sharia Law supersede the laws of non-Muslim Western infidels. The fact that there now seems to be an ever-increasing number of American Muslims involved in supporting terrorism, planning bomb plots, and even threatening to behead enemies gives me the distinct impression that, despite any forced outward appearances, the Muslim community is anything but ‘healthy‘ and ‘well-integrated‘. In fact, given enough time the face of America will begin looking a lot more like France …

By Joel Gehrke – “Mosques in the United States have doubled in number since the September 11 attacks, with urban and suburban centers seeing an uptick in mosque construction over the last decade, according to a new report.

‘This is a growing, healthy Muslim community that is well integrated into America,’ Ihsan Bagby, who headed the research project — which was sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, among other groups — told The Washington Post. ‘Researchers conducting the national count found a total of 2,106 Islamic centers, compared to 1,209 in 2000 and 962 in 1994,’ The Washington Post reported.

The Washington Post offers the statistic as a sign of the Muslim-American community triumphing over the anti-Muslim ‘backlash’ supposed to be demonstrated by the opposition to the so-called Ground Zero mosque in New York City. But maybe the data vindicates those critics of the mosque who claimed to oppose the Ground Zero mosque construction not out of bigotry, but a very particular sensitivity regarding that mosque’s proximity to Ground Zero of the World Trade Center attacks.

‘When I look over there and see a mosque, it’s going to hurt,’ the New York Times quoted C. Lee Hanson, who lost a son in the September 11 attacks, as saying in 2010 about the Ground Zero mosque. ‘Build it someplace else.’

Apparently, Muslim-Americans have been doing just that for the last decade.” Source – Washington Examiner.com.

Flashback: New Study Shows That 80% of Mosques in America Teach Jihad Violence and Islamic Supremacism – “… Then there was the Center for Religious Freedom’s 2005 study, and the Mapping Sharia Project’s 2008 study. Each independently showed that upwards of 80% of mosques in America were preaching hatred of Jews and Christians and the necessity ultimately to impose Islamic rule. And now comes yet more confirmation that mosques in the U.S. are teaching these things, and again the percentage is remarkably similar: around 80% of mosques are found to be teaching jihad warfare and Islamic supremacism. This study is extensive and detailed.” Read more.

Flashback: Report: Saudis Export Anti-Christian and Anti-Jewish Textbooks that Continue to Fuel Intolerance and Violence Around the Globe – “Textbooks used in Saudi Arabia’s schools contain virulent forms of anti-Christian and anti-Jewish bigotry that continue to fuel intolerance and violence around the globe, says a new report…  ‘Because of the Saudis’ great oil wealth, it is able to disseminate its textbooks … to many Muslim schools, mosques and libraries throughout the world. ‘This is not just hate mongering, it’s promoting violence,’ she said in an interview. It is exporting terrorism through textbooks. Christians are referred to as ‘swine’ and Jews as ‘apes,’ while being blamed for much of the world’s ills.” Read more.

Afghanistan: ‘NATO Officials Promised to Meet Afghan Nation’s Demand of Bringing to Justice, Through an Open Trial’

Revelation 18:3, “For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries …”

Absolute insanity. Is this what our men and women in uniform died for? Are we seriously going to allow ourselves to be subjected to the laws and dictates of an ideology that fails to understand even the most elementary concept of justice, that fails to grasp the most basic fundamentals of equality, of dignity, of reason? Anyone who believes that placating today will somehow make a difference tomorrow is just as deluded as the rioters themselves …

“Afghanistan takes a breather from its self-immolation in rage to issue a statement. Who in the U.S. military establishment will be the fall guys? The people who followed orders? The people who gave them? And who will conduct the trial, and what range of punishments are possible?

NATO must know full well that it is validating a process that, for many of its backers, can only rightly end through retribution in blood, and even that will not be the end; it will never be enough, because the response is not rational in the first place, and therefore has no rational end point. ‘Joint Statement by the Delegations Assigned to Probe Bagram Incident,’ from the Government Media & Information Center of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, February 25 (thanks to Ray):

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate

Following the insulting and shameful act of burning Quran in Bagram airbase that injured the religious sentiments of the Islamic world and particularly of the Afghan Muslim nation, two delegations comprising of representatives from government, the National Council of Ulemma and the National Assembly were assigned and dispatched to investigate the circumstances and causes that have led to the inhumane incident.

The delegations, while deeply touched by the religious sentiments shown by the Afghan Muslim and Mujahid nation, inform our citizens of the following:

1. In view of the particular security situation in the country, we call on all our Muslim citizens of Afghanistan to exercise self-restraint and extra vigilance in dealing with the issue and avoid resorting to protests and demonstrations that may provide ground for the enemy to take advantage of the situation.

2. After the shameful incident by the US soldiers stationed in Bagram, senior NATO and American officials expressed their deep apologies to the Muslim nation of Afghanistan and assured that such incidents will not happen again.

3. NATO officials promised to meet Afghan nation’s demand of bringing to justice, through an open trial, those responsible for the incident and it was agreed that the perpetrators of the crime be brought to justice as soon as possible.

4. The assigned delegations demand from the government of Afghanistan to take over from the Americans the authority of the Bagram prison so no such incidents can recur and calls on the US government to fully and comprehensively cooperate to this end.

5. The delegations also want from the Afghan government to formally praise those brave Afghan army soldiers and all others who showed feelings against the disrespectful act by preventing more religious books and Quran copies from burning, so that the pure Muslim sentiments of our honored Mujahid nation can remain alive.

This is some serious preening and pandering by the Karzai government to shore up its credentials as a pious regime.” Source – Jihad Watch.

Flashback: US Marines Warned: Act More Muslim, Don’t Spit Towards Mecca – “But wait, that’s not all. They’re no longer permitted to urinate facing towards Mecca, either. And it doesn’t matter which way the wind is blowing. Unfortunately, Karzai still isn’t impressed. I guess the only upside to this ridiculous politically correct brainlessness is the likelihood that a Muslim extremist or two are having difficulty strapping up their suicide vests or burying their IEDs from all the laughter …” Read more.

The Man of Lawlessness and the Burning of the Qur’an

By Jack Smith

Behind my desk is a newly framed picture that has special meaning to me. It is a picture of the Dome of the Rock, the Muslim religious shrine that memorializes Muhammad’s “night journey” and his heavenly rendezvous with Allah. Superimposed on the picture are the words, “…only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.  And then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth…” 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8.

It was in my study of 2 Thessalonians 2 that God revealed the first “piece” of the “Islamic Paradigm” puzzle, that is, Islam is the fulfillment of Bible prophecy of an antichrist empire that will rise up in the last days to wage “holy war” against the world (Revelation 13:1-10). The spiritual meaning behind the Dome of the Rock was the first revelation of that Paradigm (see “Introduction, p XI, Islam the Cloak of Antichrist). The Dome of the Rock is not an Islamic worship center, i.e., a mosque. The Dome of the Rock is an octagonal, domed structure that “stands over” a massive rock (“Rock”) located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. There is nothing else located within the Dome of the Rock other than the Rock itself, and the marble, columned structure that foreshadows and encloses it.

Marble columns over the Rock

When I began my personal study of Islam in the Fall of 2001, one of the first books I purchased on Muslim Holy War (and, in fact, the only book I found on the specific topic) was entitled, “Jihad,” by Paul Fregosi, Prometheus Books, 1998. The opening Introduction (page 19) states:

The Jihad, the Islamic so-called Holy War, has been a fact of life in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Near and Middle East for more than 1300 years, but this is the first history of the Muslim wars of Europe ever published. Hundreds of books, however, have appeared on its Christian counterpart, the Crusades, …. The Jihad has been the most unrecorded and disregarded major event of history. It has, in fact, been largely ignored. … In the New South Wales State Library, where I did part of my research while in Australia, there were 108 entries listed in their catalogue cards for the Crusades, but only two for the Jihad! The Jihad has been largely bypassed by Western historians, and this book is an attempt to right the situation, …   (Emphasis in italics, mine).

Jihad was published in 1998, three years before 9/11. Fregosi states, “this is the first history of the Muslim wars ever to be published… The Jihad has been the most unrecorded and disregarded major event of history.”  Why? Why have the Muslim holy wars not been reported in the same way that the Crusades have been reported? Why so meticulously report on the Crusades and use them as “fodder”  to malign Christianity, and report virtually nothing on Muslim holy war? Why have the pens of historians, both American, European, and Muslim omitted the murderous actions of the mujahideen of Islam for almost 1400 years?

In fact, it is embarrassing for me to admit it, but when I first began my study of Islam after 9/11, I was somehow either unaware of it, or had forgotten, that the Middle East at the time of the Quranic revelation to Muhammad (610 A.D.) was predominantly Christian. The land that Christ once walked, the lands that the Apostle Paul planted churches, the entire Middle East, north Africa, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey, were predominantly Christian. Certainly, not a “unified” Christianity, but Christian all the same. In fact, the seven churches of Revelation 2 and 3 were all located in modern day Turkey.  Then, jihad occurred.  And, Christianity was

Losing America: Muslim State Judge in Pennsylvania Rules that Muslims Are Allowed to Assault People for Insulting Islam

“Jonathon Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, reports on a disturbing case in which a state judge in Pennsylvania threw out an assault case involving a Muslim attacking an atheist for insulting the Prophet Muhammad.

Judge Mark Martin, an Iraq war veteran and a convert to Islam, threw the case out in what appears to be an invocation of Sharia law.

The incident occurred at the Mechanicsburg, Pa., Halloween parade

where Ernie Perce, an atheist activist, marched as a zombie Muhammad. Talaag Elbayomy, a Muslim, attacked Perce, and he was arrested by police.

Judge Martin threw the case out on the grounds that Elbayomy was obligated to attack Perce because of his culture and religion. Judge Martin stated that the First Amendment of the Constitution does not permit people to provoke other people. He also called Perce, the plaintiff in the case, a ‘doofus.’ In effect, Perce was the perpetrator of the assault, in Judge Martin’s view, and Elbayomy the innocent. The Sharia law that the Muslim attacker followed trumped the First Amendment.

Words almost fail.

The Washington Post recently reported on an appeals court decision to maintain an injunction to stop the implementation of an amendment to the Oklahoma state constitution that bans the use of Sharia law in state courts. The excuse the court gave was that there was no documented case of Sharia law being invoked in an American court. Judge Martin would seem to have provided that example, which should provide fodder for the argument as the case goes through the federal courts.” Read more.

‘Caliphate Conference’ Seeks to Islamize America and Europe, Make It An International Crime to Criticize Islam – “A Muslim fundamentalist group is organizing a conference focused on turning Austria and other European countries into Islamic states. The ‘Caliphate Conference 2012’ will be held on March 10 in the Austrian town of Vösendorf, situated just south of Vienna. The main theme of the event will be ‘The Caliphate: The State Model of the Future.’ The conference is being organized by Hizb ut-Tahrir [Party of Liberation], a pan-Islamic extremist group that seeks to establish a global Islamic state, or caliphate, ruled by Islamic Sharia law. Hizb ut-Tahrir — which is banned in many countries, including Germany, but is free to operate in Austria — is virulently opposed to Western capitalism and democracy and seeks to extend the future caliphate to Europe and the United States.” Read more.

Pro-Caliphate Islamic Group Threatens ‘World Net Daily’, Implies That Western Media Should Be Subservient to Islam

By Bob Unruh – “A man who says he represents the United Muslim Nations International organization has warned WND to ‘moderate’ its reporting on issues involving Islam because of how Muslims may react.

The warning came in an email to WND from Faarooq al Mohammedi, who said he was asking on behalf of the Muslim organization that WND ‘comply as it would be in the companies (sic) best interest as we would not want to take you down the same rout (sic) as we have with other non-complaint media firms.’

The email warned WND to take ‘extra precaution when publishing religiously sensitive material or in creating religiously sensitive suspicions about peoples (sic) religious beliefs and practices.’

He threatened, ‘We would appreciate it if you could tighten your screening and moderation processes of articles to be published, any fake material published by WND will be taken as a breach of world news standards, religiously sensitive matters are to be based on solid and undeniable facts, failure to produce proofs of such published articles will give us no option but to bring about the complete removal of WND online as well as from the public in any print media.’

The essence of the warning was that WND needed to project an attitude of dhimmitude, the subservient role demanded of nonbelievers in a Muslim society. Dhimmis ‘recognize’ their inferior status and appropriately serve the master Muslims.

Contacted by WND at a telephone number in Africa, Mohammedi could cite no specific issues with WND’s reporting. Instead, he promoted a worldwide Islamic caliphate, a subject mentioned in a WND report several days earlier about a coming conference in Austria.

‘Isn’t this interesting?’ said WND Founder and Editor Joseph Farah, ‘This guy makes an indictment, but can provide zero evidence to back it up. Nevertheless, he is making sweeping threats about shutting down WND and enlisting the help of unnamed governments.

‘This is why Americans who believe in free speech must never permit international agencies to be involved in policing the Internet. Nor can we afford to allow ourselves to be bullied into self-censorship and standards of ‘political correctness’ by special interest groups.'” Read more.

China: Group of Axe-Wielding Muslim Men Kill at Least 12 People During Attack at Market Place in Xinjiang

The Telegraph – “A group of axe-wielding men attacked a market in the volatile Xinjiang region of northwest China, home to the mainly Muslim Uighur minority, leaving at least 12 people dead, police and state media said.

The motive behind the attack late on Tuesday was not immediately clear, although Xinjiang has suffered repeated outbreaks of ethnic unrest in recent years that the government has routinely blamed on separatists and terrorists.

Around a dozen Uighurs attacked the market in the remote town of Yecheng, killing 10 people, a police officer told AFP by telephone.

Police then shot five of the attackers dead, he said.

The state Xinhua news agency put the number of assailants killed at two, and said the men were armed with knives.

Calls to local government offices went unanswered.

The vast region, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, is home to around nine million Uighurs who complain of oppression under Chinese rule. The number of Han – China’s dominant ethnic group – living in the region has increased dramatically over the last decade.”  Read more.

Flashback: China: Rioters Shout ‘Allah is the Only God’ While Hacking People to Death – “Police shot down 14 rioters who attacked a police station in Hotan city of Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on Monday, a Communist Party official in Hotan said Wednesday. The official, who declined to be named, said the attack left four people dead, including an armed police officer, a security guard, a woman and a teenage girl. At least three others were injured… Shouting frantic religious slogans like ‘Allah the only God’, the rioters ran to the top floor and police opened fire to stop them, said an anonymous policeman with the police station.” Read more.