Free Speech Under Threat
Apologies to everyone who has visited during the past week, expecting to find new comment for discussion and debate. I started a new job and had hoped to be able to continue blogging but have been to do anything very much on the computer at all! Life should settle down again in about a week though whether I'll be able to keep up the daily posts remains to be seen. So if anyone is interested in joining a team of bloggers for The Difference, do contact me via email.
In the meantime, my most recommended blog post of the past week is Archbishop Cranmer's British blogger to be arrested?:
While British mosques are free to distribute books and other materials that contain hate and disdain towards non-Muslims (and do so with impunity); and imams quote from the Qur’an vast passages which preach hatred, violence and paedophilia (and do so with impunity), a British blogger is to be arrested for daring to criticise Islam and Islamism. ...
It is actually difficult to see how Lionheart may be arrested for stirring up racial hatred, but there may be prima facie evidence under the Religious Hatred Bill . This could easily be deployed to challenge what may be termed the ‘Counter-jihad’ blogosphere. And even more concerning is the fact that as we move towards a ‘harmonised’ legal system throughout the EU, Lionheart could be arrested in the UK under an EU warrant and extradited to any EU country province which happened to find his writings ‘xenophobic’.
2 comments:
For the first time in over 30 years the people of Dukinfield have the opportunity to seek real representation, a new political force has arrived in Dukinfield. The British National Party is a political movement for the good, it has the interests of the local people at heart.
The once proud neighbourly Britain has now become a very destructive and violent society, and we know that the British people are fed up with the politically correct Liberals that care more about the human rights of violent thugs rather than those human rights of decent people.
The British National Party cares about Britain, about the NHS, protecting local people from anti-social behaviour in the local community. The British National Party wants more police on the beat in your area protecting your human right to feel safe free from crime and violence. Only the British National Party will put in to practice effective social policies so that Britain can return to that neighbourly society that we all want. The British people now have a challenge before them to save Britain from the ever growing crime explosion and fragmented communities due to mass immigration, or to stay with the old gang of politicians that care nothing about local people.
The British National Party will turn back the tide of political apathy giving local people a real chance of political representation. The old gang of politicians care only for themselves and doing all they can to get re-elected not really giving local people the true meaning of political representation.
The main issue now for the British National Party in Dukinfield is to move ahead with a campaign for real representation and putting the concerns of the local people at the top of the political agenda.
During the first 10 days of the Shia holy month of Muharram, a series of religious programs were organized in different cities of the United Kingdom. These meetings are traditionally held by Shia Muslims in remembrance of Imam Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, and his family members who were killed in the Iraqi city of Karbala after they declined to pledge allegiance to the then-ruler Yazid bin-Mu'awiya. At these remembrance meetings, Shia clerics commonly deliver speeches emphasizing the significance of the ‘sacrifices and martyrdom' of Imam Hussein and his family members. The programs culminate on Yaum-e-Ashura, the 10th day of Muharram. The occasion is also considered important for Sunni Muslims. In the United Kingdom, the population of Shia Muslims is considerably less than that of Sunni Muslims. In the run-up to Yaum-e-Ashura this year (January 20, 2008), a number of Sunni organizations of mostly Pakistani and Indian origin held a series of programs in the U.K. where their leaders preached the significance of Imam Hussein's ‘martyrdom.' One of the largest series of remembrance meetings was organized across England and Scotland by a Sunni organization called the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat. This group is also known in popular lexicon as Barelvi Islam, a movement among Sunni Muslims owing their allegiance to Imam Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi, who preached at Bareilly, a town in northern India, during the second half of the 19th century and after. During the run-up to the Yaum-e-Ashura, the clerics of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat fanned across the United Kingdom and delivered lectures emphasizing the significance of "martyrdom."
"Martyrdom Is One Pious Activity That the Prophet Himself Longed For"
"In Edinburgh, Qazi Abdus Salaam Khurshid said that martyrdom is one pious activity that the Prophet himself longed for. In Glasgow, Maulana Habibur Rahman said that the second Caliph [Umar] wished: ‘O Allah, offer me martyrdom in your path.' This prayer proves that martyrdom is pious, not a tragedy or difficulty. In Dundee, Qari Noorul Islam said that martyrdom is a great honor. "In Manchester, Maulana Muhammad Iqbal Rangoni said that those who offer sacrifice of lives in the path of truth are fortunate. In Rochdale, Abdul Majeed Anwar lauded the greatness... of Islam's martyrs. In Ashton-under-Lyne, Maulana Syed Abdul Kareem Shah said that the greatness of a martyr is also mentioned in the Koran. In Oldham, Qari Abdur Rasheed said the [followers of] Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat worldwide believe that the Prophet's Companions and Members of his Household are two eyes of Islam and love of them is real faith. Maulana Amjad Hussein, Maulana Shamsur Rahman, [and] Mufti Hilal Mahmood also saluted the greatness of Islam's martyrs.
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