Miss Kelly

Another Day, Another Honor Killing in England

Certainly sounds like an honor killing, as reported in Breitbart News:

"Six men have been arrested over the killing of a woman who was found dying in a London street with one of her hands cut off."

"The victim's estranged husband is among those arrested."

"Mother-of-two Geeta Aulakh, 28, was attacked in Greenford, northwest London, on Tuesday as she made her way to her childminder's home. "

"She was found with head injuries and a severed hand, according to witnesses. "

This looks like a Sikh honor killing:

"A friend said: 'It's horrific but hugely symbolic that Geeta's right hand was cut off. She was a Sikh and all Sikhs wear a metal bangle, the kara, on their right wrist. It is a permanent reminder to live a moral and good life and once it's on you can't get it off. So her murderer was both dishonouring her and perhaps tryingto show she had been dishonourable - which is just barbaric.' " 

Shariah Imposed on Non-Muslims in Indonesia, Malaysia

Whenever shariah law (Islamic law) is implemented, it's eventually forced upon non-Muslims too.  Although Indonesia and Malaysia are frequently held up as being a model of a moderate, democratic Muslim country, these developments belie that notion:

"Jakarta (AsiaNews) - In Padang, capital of the province of West Sumatra, the atmosphere is increasingly that of an Islamic state.  Female students who do not wear the headscarf (hijab) are frequently suspended from school.  The requirement to observe Islamic customs, sanctioned by the controversial regional law of 2005, is also imposed on non-Muslim girls, and has generated an atmosphere of strong pressure on religious minorities.  The proliferation of local laws inspired by sharia (perda syariat) is a growing phenomenon in Indonesia, but the central government has chosen not to intervene for now, in spite of protests from religious minorities and human rights NGO's."

Recently in Malaysia, Islamic scholars held a seminar which included discussions about extending shariah to non-Muslims, including the "crime" of unmarried men and women being close to each other.

"Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews) - Lawyers, minorities, but also women and religious Muslims in Malaysia are expressing their strong concerns about the proposal to apply sharia to non-Muslims as well, which has emerged in a recent seminar of Islamic scholars and jurists.  The chorus of condemnation was unleashed by the declaration of a judge of the Islamic court of appeal, Mohamed Asri Abdullah, who said that during the meeting there were discussions about applying the penalties for the crime of khalwat (excessive closeness between two persons) to non-Muslims well as well, through civil tribunals."

"In fact, in Malaysia there exist two forms of law: Islamic and constitutional, and the two often are in conflict."

Investors Business Daily Slams Harvard for Promoting Shariah

The world goes on, even as I'm glued to EWTN. 

I'm pleased to see this editorial at the Investor's Busines Daily, on Harvard Univerity's ridiculous promotion of conservative Islam and shariah financing, something I wrote about last week, Harvard ♥’s Shariah Finance . From the IBD:

"Over the past few years, Harvard University has received millions in endowments from rich Saudi and Emirate sheiks. Now it's returning the favor by Islamizing its campus and promoting the Shariah agenda of its new Arab masters."

"....And this weekend it hosted a $400-per-person conference on Shariah finance led by officials from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The goal of the forum — sponsored by Harvard's Islamic Finance Project — is to 'integrate' Islamic finance into the mainstream economy." 

"...Shariah-compliant investments are monitored by paid Shariah law advisers who must 'purify' certain returns by donating them to Islamic charities — including some that promote jihad and support suicide bombings." 

"With $800 billion already in Shariah assets — and $1 trillion to $2 trillion in Arab petrodollars annually looking for an investment home — the potential for billions being siphoned off for terrorism is real." 

"This, of course, would be a serious criminal violation of U.S. law. Yet Western bankers, including many on Wall Street who are jumping into the Shariah finance market, don't know this."

The IBD editorial names names, including local fellow Syed Nazim Ali:

Anti-Shariah Finance Panel Discussion at Harvard

Things should get interesting at Harvard tomorrow, just one day before the start of Harvard's Eighth Forum on Islamic Financing, sponsored by the Harvard Islamic Finance Project.  The Center for Security Policy (CSP)is hosting a lunchtime panel discussion tomorrow to expose the risks of shariah-compliant finance.  Ought to be a lively scene!  It's about time someone questioned Harvard's love affair with all things shariah. From the CSP's press release:

"the Islamic Finance Project of the Harvard University Law School’s Islamic Legal Studies Program will present the Eighth Harvard University Forum on Islamic Finance in Boston, MA.   The Center for Security Policy has challenged Harvard on the grounds that this Forum will provide NO information about the serious risks that Shariah-Compliant Finance (SCF) poses for U.S. financial institutions, ordinary post-9/11 investors and the national security of the United States of America." 

"To counter this silence on the true nature of Shariah, and to expose the risks of Shariah-Compliant Finance, the Center for Security Policy will present a lunchtime panel discussion on Thursday, April 17 from 12:00 – 1:00PM in Pound Hall, Room 107, Harvard University, 1563 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge.   Media is invited to attend.   Sandwiches and drinks will be provided."

Speakers at the panel discussion will include Frank Gaffney, President of the Center for Security Policy, Manda Ervin of the Alliance of Iranian Women, members of the Harvard community and others. It will also feature an audio statement recorded for the event by psychiatrist Dr. Wafa Sultan, a courageous opponent of Shariah law and Islamist extremism. Dr. Sultan has been forced into hiding in America due to threats against her made by Sheikh Yusef al-Qaradawi, head of the European Council on Fatwa and Research and a driving force behind the 20th Century invention of Shariah-Compliant Finance. A written copy of her statement will also be available at the event.

Harvard ♥’s Shariah Finance

What's going on at Harvard?  One can barely keep up with their obsession for all things shariah.   Last month, there were four lectures there on shariah law, two sponsored by the Harvard Divinity School, one by Harvard Law School, and one by the Harvard Islamic Society. There were probably more, but who can keep track?  There are write-ups about the lectures and lecturers here and here.  The criticism of shariah at these events seems to come from Muslim professors and activists who've lived in countries where shariah law is practiced.  The supporters for shariah seem to largely come from American-born Muslims, converts, and their so-called progressive supporters.  How do the "progressives" manage to overlook the illiberal and regressive aspects of shariah, in inheritance, child custody, divorce, testimony, religious freedom and  individual rights?  I suppose the same way that international banking firms are overlooking it too. 

Next weekend, Harvard hosts its 8th  International Forum on Islamic Finance, April 18-20, 2008.  Friday is an all-day workshop on microfinance, and a variety of topics are discussed on Saturday and Sunday.  There's a "Video of Select Shari’a Scholars’ Views on Innovation and Authenticity (Exclusively recorded for the Eighth Harvard Forum)."  I hope that goes up on the IFP website.  Also Harvard's own William A. Graham, Acting Dean of the Harvard Divinity School,  will close out the forum with a talk on Misconceptions about “Religion and Politics” in Islam. 

The project director of Harvard's Islamic Finance Project is S. Nazim Ali.  Interestingly, Nazim Ali is not an economist, his background is in computers (photo below from Harvard University Gazette article).  Ali is also active with the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) and the Islamic American University (IAU). The IAU was started by Salah Soltan in Columbus, Ohio, and is a subsidiary of the Muslim American Society.  Basyouney Nehela of the ISB opened an IAU  branch in Boston last year, which offers online and classroom courses in such subjects as Scientific Miracles in the Quraan and Arabic language.  MAS's website states that "The IAU board of trustees is headed by internationally renowned scholars such as Sheikh Yusuf al-Qardawi who serves as chairman and Dr. Jamal Badawi who serves as vice chairman."  Jamal Badawi is the newest ISB trustee, brought on about a year ago.  Qaradawi is still a proposed trustee of the ISB.  Gosh, you just can't talk about any leaders of the Boston area Muslim community without getting into MAS, Muslim Brotherhood, Yusuf Qaradawi, etc, etc.  The linkage is pretty amazing.  We seem to have many "underground Islamists" in Boston. 

Nazim Ali reportedly helped former Worcester imam Hamid obtain a visitors visa to come to the U.S. in 2001 to attend the Harvard's Islamic Financing conference.  Hamid (AKA Muhammed Hamid, Hafiz Hamid, Hamid Mehmud, Hamid Mahmud, Hamid Mehmood and Hamid Qureshi) returned to Pakistan after the conference, then came back and was miraculously apppointed imam of the Greater Islamic Society of Worcester.  Miss Kelly readers know about Hamid's relatives (Hafiz Saeed, Muhammed Masood, Abdul Hannan), you can read about them all here.   Hamid scampered out of the country in June 2007.   Little birds have told me that Hamid was being investigated for visa "irregularities" and he decided to high-tail it back to Pakistan before any criminal indictments came his way.  Work visa, anyone?

Finally, Syed Nazim Ali filed a lawsuit against the US government on February 20, 2007, because his naturalization application was delayed.  It was filed in California court Central District court.  It looks like the lawsuit was dropped in May 2007 in exchange for taking care of the application within two weeks (PACER file  8:2007cv00216).  Why did he file it in a California court when he lives in Massachusetts?  Looks like Syed Nazim Ali is a U.S. citizen now.  Who will he bring over next?   

Enough about Syed Nazim Ali and our many "underground Islamists," what about shariah financing?  Why should we be concerned?  It seems to me that Western secular societies have no business promoting a religious-based financial system.  Why would we go there?  It's contrary to the very core of our society, the separation of church and state.  Why would we support a financial system based on a legal system that has institutionalized discrimination against non-Muslims and women?  The answer, of course, is that there's money to be made, and Western bankers only see green.  Short-sighted, to say the least. Deadly too, as shariah financing is no doubt financing terrorist activities.

Alex Alexiev recently wrote about shariah financing at The National Review, Jihad Comes to Wall Street. Alexiev writes:

"Critics see sharia finance as a massive subversion campaign by radical Islam designed to legitimize sharia in the West, to undermine our markets, and ultimately to imperil our free-enterprise system and national security — all the while exposing banks to financial risks that make the sub-prime fiasco look like a walk in the park. For its proponents and ideological enablers — such as the well known suicide-bombing advocate, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi — sharia finance is nothing less than 'Jihad with money.' As al-Qaradawi explains, 'God has ordered us to fight enemies with our lives and with our money.' Unfortunately for Wall Street, it’s hard to argue with the good sheikh on that score. Far from being a guide to ethical investment, sharia finance is indistinguishable from sharia itself."

There's that rascal Qaradawi again!

  "Far from being a legitimate investment vehicle, sharia finance facilitates religiously sanctioned support for terrorist organizations — as well as providing radical Islamists with highly paid sinecures as sharia-finance board advisors in the sanctum sanctorum of capitalism, all the while that they are pursuing a subversive campaign to destroy it."  

"Predictably, none of this is even remotely disclosed by any of the dozens of Western banks promoting sharia finance today, which obviously exposes them to huge non-disclosure risks ranging from fraudulent misrepresentation, to material support for terrorism."

Now there's a lawsuit I'd like to see:  US DOJ versus Dow Jones!

More Thoughts on Harvard's Women-Only Gym Time

Excellent op-ed by Jonathan Tobin at the Jewish Exponent on the matter of Harvard's accomodation of six Muslim women students who can't bear to exercise next to (shudder) men.  And what an amazing graphic from their website (shown below)!  Tobin presents both sides, "it's no big deal, it's just a reasonable accomodation" versus "it's part of the jihad against the West."  He compares this to  requests from Orthodox Jews for accomodations in dormitory housing and kosher dining.  Tobin concludes that the Harvard response is a big deal, and that Harvard has promoted something that is troubling indeed.

"The answer is that there are limits to what a minority faith can expect in the way of accommodation.....The law can require reasonable accommodations for minorities, but reasonable does not mean that the rest of society need to alter its values to satisfy the convenience of the few."

"In those cases where institutions do rightly accommodate minorities, such as the provision of cafeterias where kosher and halal food can be obtained, as is the case at Harvard and many other schools, the accommodation does not exclude people since anyone can elect to eat a kosher sandwich."

As opposed to women-only gym hours where male students and male workers are excluded.  Tobin points out the obvious, that Islamists are engaged in a jihad against the Western way of thinking, living and governance, which somehow eluded Harvard:

"It would, however, be disingenuous to debate this case without acknowledging that it's being discussed in a context in which an aggressive Islam is fighting for control of not only Muslim and Arab societies, but the West as well."

"While the left-liberal milieu of Cambridge might be a long way from a debate about the viability of the imposition of Sharia, or Muslim religious law .... on our society, but there is little question that Islamists are pushing in a direction that should worry everyone."

"That includes moderate Muslims, who will now face additional pressures -- even in hyper-secular Harvard, or anywhere else where such demands are met -- to conform to the behavioral norms sought by the ultra-religious."

I disagree with Tobin that Harvard is a long ways from debating the viability of shariah law.  Actually, Harvard ♥’s shariah. I believe four different lectures were held about shariah law at Harvard last month, of which only one was remotely critical.  Harvard is hosting the eighth annual conference on shariah financing this month.  Few U.S. institutions support and promote shariah law as much as Harvard does.  Back to Tobin:

"American Jews, who have always fought to protect the few from having the majority trample their rights, are naturally sympathetic to the desire of another minority for respect. But we should shrink from backing measures of highly selective and politicized 'tolerance' which may be the forerunner of other demands that will restrict rather than expand religious and political liberty."

"A Harvard gymnasium isn't necessarily the place where the West must begin its defense against jihad. But what at first glance seemed like an easy way to indulge a minority might well be the harbinger of something much more troubling."

Amen, Brother Tobin.

 

Couple Stoned to Death for Adultery in Pakistan

Shariah justice in a Pakistan court, where adulterers are stoned to death:

"A man and a woman have been stoned to death by militants in Pakistan's north-west border region after an Islamic 'qazi' court found them guilty of adultery. A qazi court is an Islamic court, parallel to the Pakistani judicial system."

"According to the Pakistani daily, Dawn, this is the first incident of stoning carried out in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas on the border of Afghanistan. In the past, couples found guilty of adultery by militants or tribesmen were executed by firing squads."

Ahhh, going back to the good old days.  Use rocks, not rifles. 

Sheikh Jihad Hashim-Brown was speaking about the divine, sacred shariah law at Harvard University a few weeks ago.  The subject of Pakistan's Hud (rape) laws came up, including sentencing adulters to death by stoning under shariah.  Sheikh Jihad allowed that stoning adulters was a horrible, brutal practice, but he assured the audience that it was "rarely carried out" in shariah courts.  He added that it was a very good deterrent against adulterous behaviour.  Presumably, stoning adulters "protects the deen,"  one of the five main goals of shariah law. 

Like Tariq Ramadan, Sheikh Jihad simply couldn't allow that stoning men and women (it's usually just the women who are killed) was a barbaric practice that should be abolished.  How can any human abolish sacred, divine law?

Islam, Human Rights and Activism in Malaysia and Iran

And now for something completely different - a man with three buttocks! 

Even more unlikely than a man with three buttocks is a lecture at Harvard that's critical of shariah law, and I believe that's on the agenda this week.

What: Islam, Human Rights and Activism: The Cases of Malaysia and Iran. The speakers are Zainah Anwar and Akbar Ganji.
When: Tuesday, April 1, 2008, 4 PM to 6 PM.
Where:  Pound Hall 101, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA.

"Zainah Anwar is the recently retired Executive Director of Sisters in Islam. It is widely regarded as one of the most successful women’s advocacy groups in the Islamic world. A grassroots Malaysian organization formed in 1988, it promotes women’s rights and challenges discrimination against women. They run a legal clinic, legal literary programs, public awareness programs, and perform research in law reform. She is currently Board Member and Project Director for the Global Movement for Equality and Justice in the Muslim Family."

"Akbar Ganji is an Iranian human rights dissident and writer. He has won the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders and the John Humphreys Freedom Award. He won the Middle East Studies Association of North America, Academic Freedom Prize (2006)."

I hope the Harvard Islamic Society (HIS) members attend this, it might give them a different side of shariah.  Recently Shaykh Jihad Hashim-Brown spoke to HIS members about the goals of shariah, the "sacred and divine law" that purportedly comes from the Koran. People who live in countries were shariah is applied generally aren't so enthusiastic about it. 

Great article about Zainah Anwar here.  She sounds like an amazing woman, capable, high energy, strong-minded, a dynamo.  Here's just a few interesting items from the article about Anwar:

• Sisters in Islam (SIS), the organization that Anwar has headed for many years, tackles such issues as polygamy, and domestic and sexual violence within marriage.  The SIS maintains that the concerns of Muslim women are “not the monopoly of religious scholars. Everyone has the right to speak”. 

• "SIS has been at the forefront of NGOs influencing amendments to Islamic Family Law. It has espoused equality and justice for women, discussed dress and modesty, the right to guardianship, women as judges, fundamental liberties in Islam, and apostasy and freedom of religion."

Ms. Anwar did graduate studies in the U.S., a masters at Boston University in 1978, and was at the Fletcher School of Diplomacy, Tufts University until 1986.  Note to former Sharon imam Muhammed Masood: that's what you're supposed to do when you come to the U.S. on an J-1 Exchange Visitor visa. It's an opportunity for people to come to the United States to study, and then take what they've learned and go back home to serve the interests of their fellow countrymen.  Not stay here, bring over kids, have more kids, bring over more relatives, live large on a 52-acre estate, etc, etc. 

On the headscarf, which apparently Zainah doesn't wear - Zainah attended Islamic religious schools from ages 10 to 14, but she says that "Even my cikgu agama (religious teacher) didn’t wear the tudung (headscarf). It was such a different world then.”  What has caused the headscarf to assume such importance only in the last 30 years or so, and outside of the Middle East in a country like Malaysia which has no tradition of covering the hair?

I bet this will be a fascinating lecture!

Muslims Against Sharia - There Are Plenty!

More denunciation of Archbishop Rowan William's clueless statement that adoption of some aspects of Islamic Sharia law in Britain "seems unavoidable", this time by Libyan-European liberal thinker and entrepreneur Muhammad 'Abd Al-Muttalib Al-Houni.   Translation from an article in Arabic by MEMRI (what would we do withouth MEMRI?):

"I do not think that this demand that some laws from Islamic shari'a be adopted into European law is [meant] to include shari'a criminal law - that is, punishments such as killing the apostate (a Muslim who converts to another religion), amputating a thief's hand, cutting off a brigand's opposing hand and foot... stoning the adulterer to death, publicly flogging wine drinkers, killing homosexuals by throwing them from a high place, or allowing a relative of a [murder] victim to deal with the murderer, instead of the state.

"I imagine that the archbishop is referring [only] to Islamic shari'a laws regarding personal status. So let us imagine these laws being implemented in European courts.

"First of all, on the procedural side, there would need to be Islamic courts in European countries to adjudicate in all disputes involving European Muslim citizens - or else a large number of European judges would have to be sent to the Taliban to learn shari'a thoroughly enough to implement its laws.

"Also, European countries seeking to implement shari'a would need to submit their reservations regarding any international conventions they may have signed. This is because they will have to:

Learn About Shariah at Harvard This Weekend!

How very timely! 

The Harvard Islamic Society sent out an announcement about a lecture this weekend: Living in the Modern World: The Maqasid (aims) of the Shari`ah. 

Who, pray tell, is giving the lecture?  Shaykh Jihad!  (No, really!  That's him on the right, sitting next to someone who looks a lot like Cat Stevens aka Yusuf Islam.) Here's the lecture details:

The Harvard Islamic Society and the Bukhari Institute present...

Living in the Modern World: The Maqasid (aims) of the Shari`ah

A weekend with Shaykh Jihad Hashim-Brown

Public lecture (with open Q&A session) on Saturday, March 8, 2008 @ 3:30pm

Workshop on Sunday, March 9, 2008 @ 2pm

Location: Harvard University, Sever Hall 113

"Shaykh Jihad Hashim-Brown has extensive training in the Islamic sciences, as well as a wealth of experience engaging with issues of the modern world. In the public lecture on Saturday, he will offer advice on how to deal with the circumstances of today from an Islamic perspective, be it the portrayal of Islam in the media or everyday life in college. The lecture will be followed by an extensive Q&A session; please bring any and all questions you may have!! During the workshop on Sunday, Shaykh Jihad will provide us with an introduction to the classical text of al-Raghib al-Isfahan, "al-Dhari'ah ila Makarim al-Shari'ah". This text points the way toward defining an Islamic worldview."

"For more information, please see: http://www.bukhari-institute.org"

Well, it's open to the public, and Seever Hall is a large auditorium.  This is a great chance for interested folk to learn about shariah creep at at the multicultural, inclusive Harvard University.