Francis Chartrand for Rivière-des-Mille-Îles

The group of alleged terrorists arrested in Toronto in the summer of 2006 would have had the intention to convert the Quebec Native to Islam, to get them to kill all Quebecers to make the province to First Nations.

This was said the RCMP informant Mubin Shaikh trial of one of 11 defendants in this case. The 20 year old is accused of conspiracy, but it can not be named because of his age at the time of the facts alleged against him.

This allegation of murder conspiracy, even genocidal, against Quebecers is a new element in the case. All targets of the alleged terrorist group identified so far were located in Ontario and the group would have intended to hit the CN Tower, the CBC building, the headquarters of the RCMP and CSIS in Toronto the building of the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa and Pickering.

According to the informant Mubin Shaikh, the alleged leader of the group planned to convert Aboriginal people of Quebec to the Muslim religion, for they killed all Quebecers. The objective of this project would have been to Montreal, Quebec and the rest of the province with First Nations.

Mubin Shaikh said that the alleged conspiracy planned in Ontario and Quebec have been undertaken by importing weapons and bombs purchased from Tamil terrorists who have traveled through Mexico.

The alleged leader of the group had even considered buying a property in Opasatika in northern Ontario, to plan its operations and protect themselves against the forces of order in the event that the group was discovered.

Strategy Defense

The defense seeks to demonstrate that the alleged leader of the group was a visionary who had crazy ideas and who had neither the money nor arms, nor the fighters to carry out all these plots.

The cons-examination of Mubin Shaikh also reveals that the leader was penniless his group believe that the money would eventually come through fundraisers in the Muslim community. To hear the scale of plots incurred by the alleged leader, Mubin Shaikh admitted to the bar he did not know whether to laugh or shake the projects were so ridiculous and improbable. Only the alleged leader believed that his ideas were realistic, "said the witness.

Mubin Shaikh said that the suspected terrorists would be split into two groups because of deep disagreements over how to conduct a holy war in Canada.

The trial continues.

Link

Labels: Arab World, Canada, Hostile races, Islam, Religion and fanaticism, Terrorism

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 1:00 PM 0 Comments

What a beautiful case for throwing gasoline on the feu. A immigrant of Egyptian origin was expelled from his French courses at CEGEP Saint-Laurent because she refused to remove her niqab, the full veil that hides all face except the eyes.

This is not the college has decided to expel the pupil, but the office of Immigration Minister Yolande James.

The college has done everything to meet the lady who could wear the veil and make presentations at the back of the room, his back turned to students. During one lesson, she even asked the men to move because they faced him.

His claims were clearly unreasonable, yet the story has dragged on for months. The Ministry has finally decided she had to remove her veil, if it was the expulsion.

She chose deportation.

Why this issue has made it to the office of Minister James? Why the college Did not make the decision alone?

Because the issue of reasonable accommodation is always delicate, too explosive. A minister who is involved in a class to solve a problem of sailing! It is micro-management. Yolande James said she consulted the Prime Minister Charest before making his decision?

This story also shows how institutions are disadvantaged when demand spiked lands on their desk.

The Bouchard-Taylor commission has nothing resolved? However, Quebecers have played a huge part in its work: 17 regions visited, 800 witnesses, 900 written submissions. An incredible success, a great group therapy.

The two commissioners have delivered a report intelligent, nuanced. A brick of 310 pages that the government was quick to hide in the back of a cupboard, merely delivering a vague contract of citizenship that immigrants should sign their arrival in Quebec.

Since the beginning of the year, reasonable accommodations haunt the Liberals. Jean Charest thought getting rid of this troublesome debate by creating the commission Bouchard-Taylor.

Mistake.

***

When my colleague Vincent Marissal told me this story niqab, I told myself: "Oh no! yet the debate on reasonable accommodation!" I already saw the defenders of secularism rigid hands on deck to require the adoption of a law banning the full veil in public.

The France wanted to adopt such a law. Although the vast majority of French MPs are against the niqab and the burqa, they have recoiled from the idea of the ban. How to apply the law? By giving tickets to women who go around in burqas in the streets?

Who wants to have a policy of the niqab? A bit obnoxious, not to a country that prides itself on being democratic?

In Canada, the reality is different. A law is unthinkable, because "it would clearly be against the Charter of Rights, which guarantees freedom of religion," said the lawyer Pascale Fournier, a professor at the University of Ottawa.

Unnecessary, therefore, to go to Supreme Court. It has nothing to do with our time and our money.

???

A teacher or a lawyer might wear a headscarf that leaves the face uncovered without endangering the secular character of the school or court. With the burqa, we fall into another universe.

Someone in authority should not wear the full veil, because it is a strong symbol of inequality between men and women, like it or not Muslims.

By cons, secular society is not threatened because a woman is walking down the street or the subway with a burqa. Anyway, they are only a handful to wear the full veil. It does still not pass legislation to fifty women are often poor and isolated.

The issue of reasonable accommodation can not be resolved with legislation that would trace a line clear. It will always be the case by case basis.

The government can acquire the tools by creating, for example, a "board of harmonization" to assist institutions facing a complex problem of accommodation, as suggested by the Bouchard-Taylor commissioners.

If I were Jean Charest, I would go for the report of the commission in the back of the closet. Whether he likes it or not, the problem is far from settled.

Link

Labels: Arab World, Islam, Québec, Secularism

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 6:23 PM 0 Comments

Unlike the hijab, niqab covers the mouth. A teacher of Cegep St. Lawrence said that its port limited interaction skills of a student taking a course in French. This archive photo was taken in Egypt.

Vincent Marissal
La Presse

The Department of Immigration of Quebec was reached last November, to expel a French courses for immigrants a woman of Egyptian origin who refused to reveal his face in the classroom.

After months (February-November) attempts to accommodate the part of the teaching and direction of Cégep Saint-Laurent, the situation became tense may cause clashes within the institution.

According to what the press could learn a senior officer (Roger Giroux, CEO of francization the Immigration Department) intervened personally to ask for the umpteenth time, the lady to remove her niqab (which leaves appear as eyes), otherwise it would be expelled from the course. She refused, demanding a written confirmation from the Department's position, what she got.

In the letter, Mr. Giroux said that the reasons were clearly explained to students excluded that it could pursue its way with her niqab but it had plenty of time to complete the training online.

The lady has complained in the days before the Commission on Human Rights, who will study in the coming months.

The whole story began in February 2009 when the Egyptian immigrant was enrolled in a French course at CEGEP Saint-Laurent. She has the permanent resident status in Canada. To register, she provided a photograph of her face was uncovered and she met without niqab, the evaluator francisation services.

So far, so good. Problems arise however when the first courses because some men are in the class and she refuses to disclose in their presence.

Conciliatory, teacher supply, in agreement with the direction of the college, hide with her in a corner of the class to do exercises dialog. For these special sessions, the student agrees to withdraw her niqab.

An oral back

This arrangement is flawed, however, soon struck the very objectives of the course, which will facilitate exchanges between students, oral presentations and scenarios. In addition, the woman refuses to increasingly comply with the agreement with his teacher. The latter, along the direction of CEGEP Saint-Laurent, reminds him that for educational reasons, it is essential to see the faces of students in trade in order to correct their speech and to see their facial expressions.

At one time, we push the same accommodation to enable the student to make an oral statement at the bottom of the class back, because there are men in the room.

The relationship between Muslim students and a teacher, but also with the rest of the class gets tough on the edge of open conflict. We finally reached the point of no return when the lady, after a pause, asked three men to move because they face it in class, arranged in U by the teacher for precisely facilitate trade. The men and the teacher agree, but the situation became untenable and clearly we are heading towards a confrontation.

According to our sources, students veiled while systematically refusing to uncover her face, even alone with his teacher, and she shows more and more militant, even aggressive.

Therefore, the case "goes" to the department and even to the office of Immigration Minister Yolande James, who follows closely with its staff, its evolution.

The ultimatum and the expulsion of the student were decided at the political level, with the intervention of a senior official and the concurrence of the Minister James.

File politically explosive

Many Quebecers applaud the government's firmness on this issue, but politically and legally, the ground is slippery.

At the time, in several European countries, a debate rages on religious symbols, especially the veil (hijab, niqab or burqa), Quebec intervenes for the first time in a classroom. Two similar cases have arisen recently in French classes for immigrants at Cégep de Sainte-Foy, but both students were bent to the demands of the course.

Compete by the principles of secularism and equality between men and women, pillars of the policy of the Quebec government, and freedom of religious practice, recognized by the Quebec and Canadian charters. This is a crucial test for the government and the first strong political reaction from the Bouchard-Taylor commission.

In Quebec, it thus follows the case closely. Our sources say the government is hopeful of winning its case before the Commission on Human Rights.

"We believe having done everything reasonable to accommodate this person, but there is a limit, and we have taken here. For us, it is important to send a clear message", said an informant close to the case.

In his complaint to the Commission on Human Rights, students veiled invokes freedom of religious practice. The government, for its part, says that wearing the niqab is incompatible with the educational goals and that many attempts have failed a reasonable accommodation.

Quebec also remember that all immigrants are engaged in writing for the month of January 2009 to respect Quebec values (including gender), they are learning about these common values and they must learn French.

If they are unwilling or unable to follow these courses in person, newcomers can do online, and all information on common values is explained in several languages, including Arabic, on the ministry website Immigration.

Conciliation or hardline?

This is not the political decision that is subject to a test with this case, but also throughout the approach established by the Charest government in the wake of the report of the Bouchard-Taylor commission.

According to all recent polls on the issue of reasonable accommodation, the majority of Quebecers think their government shows usually too conciliatory.

In recent years, highly publicized cases, the SAAQ particular have fueled the controversy and ignited the open-line programming.

In government, as the debate rages between proponents of conciliation and the supporters of hard-line debate spiced by the positions of opposition parties.

It is unlikely that the government legislates on wearing religious symbols. Legal advice circulating in some state departments are, however, communication problems and security-related wear the niqab and burqa.

Another known case is currently before the Commission on Human Rights. Sondos Abdelatif, a Muslim girl who was training to become a prison warden, filed a complaint in 2007 after being dismissed by Correctional Services of Quebec because she refused to remove her hijab.

She advocates freedom of religious practice while his former employer says that wearing the headscarf poses risks to the security guard.

Link

Labels: Arab World, Québec, Religion and fanaticism

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 6:04 PM 0 Comments

During his visit of December 20, 2009 in Oman, the President of European Parliament Hans-Gert Poettering said that democracy in the Middle East evolved from within, it must reflect the traditions and local values and that the West should not exert pressure on countries in the region for them to accept a democratic system of European style. This statement has raised the criticism of Arab intellectuals and the next day, Omran Salman, Director of Arab Reform Aafaq.org site, published an article castigating statements Poettering.

Western officials prefer to preserve the Western dictatorships

"(...) What do statements [like Poettering]? That the European democratic system is suitable for all kinds of countries around the world, but not to Arab countries?

Such statements are obviously not harmless, and they do not serve these alleged exceptions [Arab] and they would rather the manifestation of racist tendencies and selfish goals.

These people [the attitude Poettering] believe that the Arabs deserve nothing better than their current government, they do not deserve democracy enjoyed by civilized nations. It follows that it is better not to put pressure on the dictatorial regimes, but rather to fulfill their wishes, [and receive] in exchange agreements, money and profits, while people may well go devil.

In reality, the president of the European Parliament, who should be ashamed, is not the only villain of this batch [of Western statesmen]. Unfortunately, many European officials and Americans share his views, some even competing to turn a new page [in their relations with] the dictatorial governments, that of [Syrian President] Bashar Assad or [Libyan leader Moammar] Gaddafi or more.

Their positions are based on the following assumptions:

- People are not equal in their ways to achieve democracy, there would be nations first class and second class nations. The "first class" - Europe and the West - deserve the highest level of democracy, while Arab nations belong to the second class are [intrinsically] different constraints to accept the authority of their governments [ respectively].

- The best way to defend Western interests is to preserve the existence of tyrannical regimes and not to provide [these] nations can adopt democracy as such a change could affect those interests [Western].

- The democratic experience is inherently scalable, so it is not useful to promote and facilitate [the way] to democracy, particularly in Arab countries. This however is not true for Eastern Europe, South America or Asia [where democracy was introduced quickly].

- All nations of the region have their own characteristics and cultural traditions, which must be respected and this would be a mistake to impose democracy or push them to adopt [democracy].

As I said before, these are only excuses advanced by some Western politicians to justify their relationship with the corrupt and tyrannical governments in the Arab world. They reveal their contempt for the nations of the region, treated as inferior species.

The Arab people also want freedom and democracy

The truth is - even if these opportunistic [Western] does not see things eye to this - that all nations have also [right] to freedom and democracy. There is no nation that can fight and not fighting for freedom - and the Arab nations are no exception.

Moreover, democracy is not a habit that one has for honoring its traditions, or that it adapts to the climate. It is a universal human value that transcends continents and cultures.

The supremacy of law, a government elected by the people, accountable to [its people], the separation of powers, pluralism, the transfer of power by peaceful means, all these things are not dependent on regional customs . If they are good for the West, they are also the East and all regions of the world whatsoever.

The only thing left to say is that all the Reformers, those who defend democracy and freedom in Arab countries should condemn racism and opportunism of politicians like - the President of the European Parliament included (...)

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Labels: Arab World, Europe, Francis Chartrand, Oman

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 9:46 PM 0 Comments

Richard Martineau
Journal de Montréal
18/11/2009 06h43

Yesterday I told you the story of the police chief of Windsor who had to publicly apologize to the Muslim community in Ontario because one of its agents had searched the wife of a radical Islamist wanted by the FBI during a police operation.

This column brought me several reactions, including an email from a policeman SPVM.

WHAT "DAMAGE"?

"I have been accused in police ethics for speaking with the wife of a Muslim, told me the agent who wishes to preserve his anonymity.

"The man wanted to talk to me after an intervention that had involved earlier in the day. He phoned the station and asked what my partner and I were going to meet with him.

"It was presented at the time requested, but the man was not present. His wife told us. The lady was hesitant, talkative and somewhat unaware of the situation. We were courteous to her, and we recorded this event in our report.

"A few months later, we received a letter from the Commissioner of Police Ethics accusing me of abusing my power over the woman in question. Although no complaint was made against me and my partner, the police of Montreal still has apologized to the lady for the "damage" caused for this "unfortunate" incident ...

"The worst is that I have never met or consulted about this complaint. However, the police apologized on my behalf because I did my job!"

INTIMIDATION

Every time I tell stories of accommodations, I get emails accusing me of racism and xenophobia.

It's an old trick: we leave the word "racist" when someone dares to criticize the religious extremists in the hope that someone will take his hole and close the mouth.

I have bad news for you, boys: it does not work with me. If it worked, it's been a long time that I should write more, the number of emails I get insulted every day.

In fact, I would say that it has the opposite effect. The more you attack me, the more I want to write on the subject.

I'm not eating meat for eight months, I still kept my head pig.

BAD PUGLIA!

A few days ago, I said I did not understand why the police gave tickets to young people who make the squeegee.

This earned me several emails from people screaming against "that damned lousy who ask for money".

A man wrote me that her son was beaten up by the homeless. I understand his anger. But when I was young, I got beaten up by some Englishmen. Does it mean that all Englishmen are savages? Of course not.

Just as Muslims are not all Islamists. Remember the documentary of Paul Arcand, Les voleurs d'enfance? Arcand was walking in a park frequented by homeless and asked the young people present who were awarded by host families.

The vast majority raised their hands.

Contrary to what some people think, young people living on the street are not rich kids who are poor.

These are often young skinned alive. And they should be disgusted because they ask for money?

Link

Labels: Arab World, Islam, Montréal, Religion and fanaticism, Richard Martineau

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 12:45 AM 0 Comments

Richard Martineau
Journal de Montréal
17/11/2009 06h46

Like the stories of accommodation? You'll love it.

On 31 October, at the request of the RCMP and the FBI, police in Windsor, Ontario, have arrested two Islamist radicals who are suspected of having links with an extremist group of Detroit: Mohammad Al-Sahli, 33, and Yassir Ali Khan, 30.

PUBLIC APOLOGY

During this operation, a police officer searched the wife of Ali Khan.

However, this kind of contact between a man and a woman is considered highly inappropriate by Muslims. As explained by counsel for Ms. Khan, "Muslims have no right to have physical contact with a man who is not part of their family. If a Muslim woman must be searched during a police operation, it must be searched by a policewoman, not by a policeman."

Result: Members of the Muslim community have asked the Ontario Police Chief Windsor public apology.

What did the chief? Has he defended his troops? Has he said the imams of the municipality that was not there to meet religious regulations archaic, but to make arrests and to protect public safety?

No. He held a press conference and presented his most sincere apologies to the Muslim community.

"Next time, he said, we will arrange for a properly trained officer may be present during such operations ..."

AWARENESS WORKSHOPS

You coat the compromises that have been granted by the SAAQ?

This is nothing compared to what is happening in Ontario.

For now on, the Muslims of Windsor wanted by the police can choose the sex of the officer who searches, arrest them and handcuffed.

In 2007, the Windsor Police have been entitled to "workshops to raise awareness of cultural difference" to know how to stop people from different religions. When these "workshops", the police were able to discuss with representatives of 12 different communities.

"But this has clearly not been enough," said Chief of Police in Windsor. We will organize other workshops of its kind ... "

One of these "workshops" will be moderated by a member of the Islamic Association of Windsor.

HIDE THE MEN!

Do you know what we should do? We should withdraw all men schools, CPE, gyms, public service and police stations. That way, the Muslim women would not be bothered sexually.

They are assured of always falling on a woman when they are dealing with these services.

We would move the guys in the basement and we would ask them to open envelopes or sorting mail.

THE NOSE HAIR

Here, while we're on the subject of burlesque accommodations, I have a good, alleging the magazine Courrier International:

"There are about ten years, a debate triggered by a rabbi concluded that we could pick his nose during the Sabbath. The discussion had focused on the fact that in the context of this activity, it could happen that one tore the hairs of the nose or it is forbidden to cut hair and hair on the Sabbath ... "

"Another rabbi proclaimed that Jews could not wear Crocs shoes for the day of Atonement, because they were too comfortable on this day of fasting and meditation ..."

This is not great?

Link

Labels: Arab World, Islam, Ontario, Religion and fanaticism, Richard Martineau

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 11:13 PM 0 Comments

When the media-political tribe is unanimous, I instinctively distrust. After verification, the reality is always more complicated.

The pollsters did not see it coming: In a referendum, 57.5% of Swiss have voted for the ban on building new minarets.

A minaret is the tower top which called on Muslims to prayer five times a day. There is no requirement that a mosque has one.

Outside Switzerland, the reactions were immediately fuse: a vote "hateful," "shameful", a "return of fascism." Nothing less.

Switzerland seems indeed very ill. There are only four minarets on mosques 200. A municipal regulation would probably have sufficed. The placards equating the minarets of the missiles were profoundly dishonest. The Muslims have reason to feel unfairly targeted? Yes.

The minarets were obviously a pretext. The referendum has expressed discomfort with a majority that sees a religious community grew exponentially strongly assert the public square. Similarly, in Quebec, the reasonable accommodation crisis was not really about women in pantyhose doing gymnastics.

For the Swiss political scientist Michael Hermann, a high score also means that voting xenophobic right wing added a vote secular feminist left. The Islamist ideologue Tariq Ramadan has also given a tremendous impetus to the camp's ban Assuming that the minaret was an affirmation of identity and political and not a religious requirement.

Switzerland has only 7.8 million inhabitants, like Quebec. In 1970, there were 16 000 Muslims in Switzerland. In 1980 the number had increased to 57 000. Today is 400 000. The question arises: can we integrate such volume so quickly, without a small company feel hustled?

No, precisely because it incorporates more. Therefore, the cycle is unemployment, poverty, exclusion, discrimination, anger, crime. The Washington Post on April 29, 2008 reported that in France, for example, between 60 and 70% of the prison population is Muslim, composed mostly of children of immigrants.

Turkey is a Muslim country that has most harshly criticized Switzerland. Did you know that until 2003 it was forbidden to build places of worship for non-Muslims? As Turkey now wants to join the European Union, it has repealed the ban and it has become more subtle.

In Ankara, the municipal regulation now requires that places of worship have a minimum area of 2500 square meters. In a country 99% Muslim, other religions are necessarily poor. They have therefore not afford to build so large or if they have, the city told them that there is not enough space for such big projects.

The Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, has already written that the minarets were the "bayonets" of Islam. It's reassuring.

In all Western societies, the poor integration of immigrants and the fatal multiculturalist ideology fueling a real identity problem. To deny or reduce it to an indictment against the majority, ensuring that when this unease is expressed, it will come out all wrong.

Link

Labels: Arab World, Islam, Joseph Facal, Religion and fanaticism, Switzerland, Turkey

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 10:49 PM 0 Comments

As the rest of Canada celebrates the nation’s 142nd birthday today, a Vice President of the Canadian Arab Federation has labelled the country a “genocidal state” and the described its national day as “F**k Canada Day.”

Omar Shaban, who lives in Vancouver, BC made these comments on his Facebook page, declaring, “It’s finally Canada Day ... Couldn't be more ashamed to be Canadian.”

Yesterday, the Facebook status of the CAF vice president welcomed July 1, 2009 with the slogan, “Happy Genocide Day Canada.”

While one VP of the Canadian Arab Federation was throwing insults at Canada, another Vice President of CAF was on cable TV showering praise on the discredited leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Appearing on a Muslim cable TV show, Ali Mallah endorsed the election of President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad as valid, and echoed the official line of the Tehran regime, claiming Western governments and Western Media were to blame for the current unrest in Iran.

The CAF VP claimed Western governments, “starting with the US and France” had been working long before election day in an attempt to unseat Ahmedinejad. This he said was evident from the way the West was “dehumanizing Ahmedinejad in the ugliest terms” long before the polls.

Mallah said, “They [Western media] were really preparing the stage to really distort the truth about the outcome of the result even before the election was announced and that shows their questionable interests.”

The CAF VP also accused Western internet service providers of aiding and helping the Iranian opposition. “The videos and emails coming from inside Tehran are being supported by [American] Internet Service Providers,” he claimed.

Mallah was joined in the TV discussion by two Pakistan-Canadian supporters of Iran’s Islamist dictatorship and a leftwing White convert to Islam. Surprisingly, the discussion on Iran excluded any Iranian-Canadian.

Link

Labels: Arab World, Canada, Tarek Fatah

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 8:44 PM 0 Comments

Envious of the press enjoyed adulatoire Obama because of his status as a member of an oppressed minority, the very progressive MP Thomas Mulcair has converted to Islam and changed race. He's the first Canadian in the history of the country to choose to become a Certified Member of an Oppressed Minority ™.

He accuses his opponents and of course the media of Islamophobia, and will not hesitate to prosecute them before the Commission on racism and hate, if they criticize it.

He surrounded himself with a team of candidates clearly oppressed ™, which will encourage racist whites to give to his campaign fund. For white racists, giving money is a way to relieve their guilt for a bad race, ethnicity bad, bad fathers, bad food preferences.

Thomas Mulcair wants us to enter the Age of guilt. Plagued by an electorate collective guilt and remorse, and fear the threats of death and ruinous prosecution before the Board of Rights, is of course easier to handle.

Link

Labels: Anne Humphreys, Arab World, Canada, Human mistake, Islam, Religion and fanaticism

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 11:34 AM 0 Comments

Muslims tend to disarm any criticism of Islam and the Koran in particular by asking the person who expresses his opinion if she had read the original Arabic text of the Koran, as if the issues of the sacred text suddenly disappeared when the player controls the holy language and experience sensory direct words of Allah himself, that no translation can not do justice.

Muslim non-Arab

This should not forget that the majority of Muslims are neither Arab nor Arabic, about 1.3 billion Muslims, only about 300 million live in countries where Arabic is the language used, alone, populations of large Muslim countries non-Arabic such as Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Iran and Turkey will exceed 600 million. While it is true that among the Muslims whose mother tongue is other than the most educated learn to read the Koran, the vast majority of believers is not the language, and many people learn passages of the Koran by heart, without typing a word.

In other words, most Muslims are required to read a translation of the Koran to understand. And contrary to popular belief, such as Farsi translations exist for the X ° or eleventh century, and that Turkish and Urdu for a very long time ... Today, the Koran is available in more than 100 languages. Many of these translations can be found on the Web, for example, see Quran.org.uk, often translated as Muslims elsewhere - despite disapproval more or less religious authorities.

The Arabic language, its evolution and its different forms

Even for our contemporary Arabic, reading the Koran is not a picnic. The Koran is supposedly written in what we call "Classical Arabic", but most of the modern Arab populations do not read or does not write in classical Arabic. We are facing what linguists call a phenomenon of "diglossia" situation of a group of people who practice both languages by giving them different hierarchical status, even if these languages or language varieties are related and partly inter-comprehensible. Here, the varieties are the "high" Arabic, called "Modern Literary Arabic or Modern Standard Arabic, derived directly from the Classical Arabic, and" Bottom "Arabic, Arabic Current" which includes the fact dialects commonly spoken.

The Modern Standard Arabic is taught in school, like Sanskrit or Latin in other latitudes. It is (in principle) used in writing and communication in very formal situations (sermons, lectures, news, part of the press ...).

Fluent Arabic is used in everyday life (with family, friends, radio and television for entertainment, ...). However, as noted by Alan Kaye, the differences between the many dialects of Arabic and Arabic Current Standard are such that fallah (farmer) who has not been to school can barely understand some words and expressions without experiencing great difficulties. We could assemble a dozen fallahin who have never been exposed to Standard Arabic, would be very hard to understand each other. "

Finally, scholars who assert that "anyone can read a newspaper in Modern Standard Arabic will have no difficulty reading the classical Arabic of the Koran and other ancient texts" paint a misleading picture of the linguistic situation of modern Arab societies they are insensitive to changes in meaning and use of terms that have occurred since the time of Classical Arabic, in a word to the evolution of language on a very long period and in an area geographically vast . In addition, anyone who lived in the Middle East in recent years knows that the language of the press, the best, semi-literary, and in any case as simplified structures and vocabulary used, and can even detect in the newspapers and television news which in terms of classical Arabic would grammaticales.Le errors linguist Pierre Larcher spoke of the "considerable gap between Medieval Classical Arabic and Classical Arabic (or literary) modern, some of texts in the former now the subject of narratives in the second ... "

Alan Kaye explains it in reality very few contemporary speakers of Arabic language sufficiently mastered the subtleties grammar Classic to give unannounced formal speech in English. And Pierre Larcher said that when you have a situation where two varieties of the same language exist, you can probably get all kinds of mixtures, which led some linguists to talk about triglossia, see quadriglossie or polyglossie about l 'Arabic, the various forms of the language creating a sort of continuum ...

In short, the style of the Koran is difficult, very different from the prose of today, the book is largely taken only incomprehensible and requires a glossary or even a commentary. Even the best-educated Arabic speakers will therefore often require some sort of "translation" if they want to find a direction. The Koran is without doubt one of the Sacred Scriptures more elusive, the gnomonic and more allusive.

Do you know Aramaic?

We're questioning, sometimes aggressively, "Yes, but do you Arabic? Then you assener often triumphantly:" To fully understand the Koran, it should be read in its original version in Arabic!". The free-thinkers are generally reduced by this maneuver to a sullen silence. They now keep criticizing Islam: After all, who are they to judge, who do not know Arabic?

However, no one denies criticize Christianity, yet how many freethinkers or atheists Western include Hebrews? How many of us know what was the language of Ezra? Or simply what language the New Testament was written? And of course, Muslims also feel free to criticize the Bible and Christianity, without knowing a word of Greek, in Hebrew or Aramaic!

Summary ...

There is no need to understand Arabic to discuss Islam or the Koran. It is need for skepticism and criticism. There are translations of the Koran by Muslim scholars, whose believers can not claim that there was corruption or deliberate alteration of the text by an infidel. The majority of Muslims is not Arabic, and they too must rely on translations. The original text of the Koran is the classical Arabic language in any case very different from what is spoken today, and even Muslims have Arabic notes to help understand their holy texts.

Arabic is a Semitic language, like Hebrew and Aramaic, and is not easier or more difficult to translate these other languages. There are of course all sorts of difficulties inherent in the text of the Qur'an, the Islamic scholars have also identified and discussed for a long time. The Koran is an opaque, but opaque to all; Muslim theologians themselves debating the meaning of verses broadly representative about a fifth of the Book!

Labels: Arab World, Francis Chartrand, Islam, Religion and fanaticism

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 6:35 PM 0 Comments

We have inherited a culture of denial, and too often we refuse to acknowledge our own responsibilities for the widespread malaise that has left most of the Arab-Muslim countries in economic, political and social decay.

In recent decades, reports and statistics intergovernmental have documented a gap, perhaps now irreversible, between Muslim countries and the advanced industrial democracies in the West.

A recent report on the index of states in disrepair, published in the journal Foreign Policy (May / June 2006), Pakistan, for example, is ranked among the 10 most failed states in the world - on top of Afghanistan. Pakistan is a Muslim country, a military nuclear power, but it can barely feed, clothe, educate and provide housing for its people.

Reports on the Arab countries is a sad list of entrenched tyrannies, savings into disrepair, squandered wealth, oppression of women, persecution of minorities and endemic violence. The system of religious leaders want Iran to obtain nuclear weapons and threatens to destroy Israel, to suppress internal opposition and to seek confrontation with the West.

Instead of acknowledging the reality of Arab-Muslim world as a broken civilization, we Muslims have tended to give way and blame others for our ills and divert responsibility for the failures that have become breeding of violence and terrorism. "We have taught our children false pride, and have given them a sense of history that crumbles under the consideration of the review. We have imposed a conflict of loyalty and now some of them have become our nightmare.

We preach tolerance, but we are intolerant. We demand inclusion, but we are putting in practice the exclusion of women, minorities, those with whom we disagree.

We constantly repeat that Islam is a religion of peace, but too many of us display conduct contrary to what we profess."

We continue to reassure us and others that Muslims violate Islam are a tiny minority, but we can not hold this minority accountable in public.

A bowl of milk turns into curd with a single drop of lemon. This tiny minority that we are responsible for curdled ruined our Islam, but too many of us insist refute all the evidence against our belief that distinguishes us as better than others.

In Islam, we insist that religion and politics are inseparable. The result: The politics dominates our religion - and our religion has become a cover for tribalism and nationalism.

Salim Mansur, Canadian and Muslim

Lien

Labels: Arab World, Canada, Islam, Religion and fanaticism

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 6:12 PM 0 Comments

Khader participated in the founding of a new international body against Islamism. It also wants to make Denmark a center of the struggle for freedom of expression, which the country is de facto through the defense of caricatures of Muhammad. He works to organize the first conference on freedom of expression on the model of the world conference on climate change. A Copenhagen Declaration will be drafted. He also believes that the battle for the United Nations is lost, and advocates a new organization dedicated solely to truly democratic country.

Naser Khader, a Danish citizen of Syrian origin, is the founder of Muslim Democrats of Denmark. He is a member of the Danish Parliament and leader of the Liberal Alliance. In 2006, he received the Prize for Freedom of Expression Award by the Jyllandsposten (the Danish newspaper that published caricatures of Muhammad). In 2007, he received the International Prize Committee Laïcity Republic, France.

******

An international freedom of expression, translation adbouz an interview published in Danish on 3 October 2008 on the site weekendavisen.dk. gathered at the site North Africa.

Naser Khader is struggling to position themselves in the Danish political landscape. Maybe he will do better as a champion of Islam with a human face? Khader participated in the founding of a new international body against Islamism, and he wants to make Denmark a center of freedom of expression.

There are many unknowns about the new organization. How will she be called, a member etc ... Khader is still skeptical.

He is a British businessman who financed the philanthropic work. Recently, they met in a French chateau wine to discuss. They agreed to put aside differences and concentrate on one thing: stopping the spread of radical Islam.

"We're too fixed on the fight against bin Laden, extremists and terrorists, but they are only the tip of the iceberg. The real battle is about values, and the Islamists are gaining influence around the world. We have had discussions about who is really able to fight against Islamism, is that the West and Muslims themselves? With regard to Muslim terrorism weapons and force the West are necessary, but in relation to the fight against Islamism in general, moderate Muslims must undertake. "

"We also discussed the issue of the publication. When a moderate Muslim wrote a book, write Islamists ten pounds. They have publishing houses, they have money and they are also more or less agree, while moderates may be able to agree to fight against Islamism, but from different Political divided. Some believe that the solution is to leave Islam, but my position is that we should be in and fight against it. It does not convince many moderate Muslims in the fight against Islamism in dealing Muhammad of pedophile, calling for the banning of the Koran and so on. It's good to have this position, but I do not think it works, when it aims to convince a change of behavior. We had a discussion on this subject, but we unanimously concluded that Islam is racism. Some will object that it has nothing to do with race, but the fact is that racism in the way that word is used today, is based more on lifestyle and attitudes on race. This is racism of our era, the Islamists themselves as better people than others. The rest of humanity must go to hell".

Khader was more afraid of Saudi Arabia to Iran. He said the Saudis with their money buying everything and everyone. For example, a U.S. documentary on PBS that contributed to Khader, was stopped: Saudi Arabia is a board member who was arrested. According Naser Khader, the West did not understand where the real danger in the struggle for peace and civilization.

"Yes, Iran is dangerous and we must do our utmost to prevent them from getting a nuclear bomb, but Iran is wind compared to Saudi Arabia. I see Saudi Arabia as the country that represents the greatest threat to world peace. The ambition of Iran is to become a regional superpower, but the Saudis have global ambitions and buying influence in the world, "he said, and mentioned the issue of reporting the American journalist Martyn Burke on the internal confrontation between moderate and extremist Muslims. Khader has himself contributed, as the late Danish imam Abu Laban, in the issue, the case of the Muhammad and crisis that followed."

"Martyn Burke is a journalist known to the public channel PBS, but even if it is used there, we said 'no' to spread the story. Why? Because in the board of PBS headquarters a Saudi who has vetoed."

"The Saudis are buying influence in the media, football and stock funds, and with regard to Denmark and freedom of expression meeting held in Saudi Arabia in December 2005 on the cartoons Muhammad, is important for me. They told the meeting that now more important for Muslims is to address freedom of expression, because freedom is used to criticize Islam and Muslims. The Saudis and Egyptians came out to tell the Muslim masses "calm, we bring this matter to the UN." That is why I see Durban II as a continuation of the cartoon row." Here, Khader sees some interesting correlations. States and fundamentalist Muslim movements detected through the power of cartoons freedom of expression. They want to end it by all means. Therefore, one of the guidelines of the Conference of Islamic States is to make Islamophobia a crime, and transform the UN into an organization that will protect Islam."

Durban II is a milestone. Khader think that Denmark should become a center of the struggle for freedom of expression, which the country is de facto through the defense of the cartoons.

Khader wants Denmark organizes every two years a global conference on freedom of expression. He would like the first will take place in parallel with Durban II, in the spring.

"My ambition is to make Denmark the country of freedom of expression, and we are now working to organize a conference on freedom of expression in Copenhagen every two years on the model of Bjørn Lomborg of the conference Copenhagen on climate change. Here we will meet, to review the fight, measure what we have come and write a statement in Copenhagen. The aim is to encourage moderate Muslims around the world."

Naser Khader hopes that the first conference to be held in parallel with the UN conference on racism in Durban II in April of next year, where many Muslim countries and their body OIC will try to prohibition criticism of religion, such as Islam and blasphemy. Only then will the participants will appear openly.

"I have presented the idea and are excited about the idea that the conference will be held in Copenhagen. We will first hold a meeting for ourselves and the day following a public meeting. This does not please the Saudis, it does not bother us, it will be a source of pride. Denmark is a very big star among the freedom fighters. They follow what is happening in Denmark, and when I met the group, they were almost as much aware about what is happening in Denmark as I am here. What we are saying and doing is quickly known to the outside, whether it concerns the fight against Islamism and freedoms."

Khader believes that the battle for the United Nations is lost. He believes that democratic countries should come together to create a new organization. He wants a new UN, where countries can join only if they meet certain basic conditions, the secrecy of the vote, free elections, freedom of expression, association and religion.

"In fact, I wrote a column in 2000 on this point of view, and I was very unpopular among the radical left - you know, all those who speak of dialogue and living together - but I just returned from Geneva to prepare for Durban II, and there is no dialogue. Muslim countries are arcs and alliance against democratic countries. I spoke at the NGO, but I also attended the party official, and the first who spoke, was the representative of Saudi Arabia, who congratulated Sudan for the African nation's most progressive Where women have equal rights and that it is a myth that people are killed. And they have filled the halls of local full of signs, billboards show that Sudanese women use computers. It is absolutely ridiculous."

What will happen to the current United Nations?

"Dictators can continue all alone."

What about China?

"It can not be part of a new United Nations if it is not democratic. It is China which has blocked the aid that we wanted to bring refugees from Darfur, and they sit and oppose vetoes when it comes to human rights".

What will happen to the peace objective of the UN? does not abandon it, if there is a discussion forum common?

"It's a myth that there are talks and dialogue. Durban II is a good example. And now, I'd say go get buggered with this dialogue, go fuck yourself. There is no dialogue."

"The totalitarian use the United Nations to send their families in New York and Geneva and give them good jobs for which they are not qualified."

Translation: adbouz

Source: weekendavisen.dk

His blog: http://khader.dk/

Link

Labels: Arab World, Denmark, Freedom of expression, Human rights, Islam, Secularism

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 9:29 PM 0 Comments

MÜNSTER, Germany -- Muhammad Sven Kalisch, a Muslim convert and Germany's first professor of Islamic theology, fasts during the Muslim holy month, doesn't like to shake hands with Muslim women and has spent years studying Islamic scripture. Islam, he says, guides his life.

So it came as something of a surprise when Prof. Kalisch announced the fruit of his theological research. His conclusion: The Prophet Muhammad probably never existed.

Theology Without Muhammad

Read a translated excerpt from "Islamic Theology Without the Historic Muhammad -- Comments on the Challenges of the Historical-Critical Method for Islamic Thinking" by Professor Kalisch.

Muslims, not surprisingly, are outraged. Even Danish cartoonists who triggered global protests a couple of years ago didn't portray the Prophet as fictional. German police, worried about a violent backlash, told the professor to move his religious-studies center to more-secure premises.

"We had no idea he would have ideas like this," says Thomas Bauer, a fellow academic at Münster University who sat on a committee that appointed Prof. Kalisch. "I'm a more orthodox Muslim than he is, and I'm not a Muslim."

When Prof. Kalisch took up his theology chair four years ago, he was seen as proof that modern Western scholarship and Islamic ways can mingle -- and counter the influence of radical preachers in Germany. He was put in charge of a new program at Münster, one of Germany's oldest and most respected universities, to train teachers in state schools to teach Muslim pupils about their faith.

Muslim leaders cheered and joined an advisory board at his Center for Religious Studies. Politicians hailed the appointment as a sign of Germany's readiness to absorb some three million Muslims into mainstream society. But, says Andreas Pinkwart, a minister responsible for higher education in this north German region, "the results are disappointing."

Prof. Kalisch, who insists he's still a Muslim, says he knew he would get in trouble but wanted to subject Islam to the same scrutiny as Christianity and Judaism. German scholars of the 19th century, he notes, were among the first to raise questions about the historical accuracy of the Bible.

Many scholars of Islam question the accuracy of ancient sources on Muhammad's life. The earliest biography, of which no copies survive, dated from roughly a century after the generally accepted year of his death, 632, and is known only by references to it in much later texts. But only a few scholars have doubted Muhammad's existence. Most say his life is better documented than that of Jesus.

Muhammad Sven Kalish

"Of course Muhammad existed," says Tilman Nagel, a scholar in Göttingen and author of a new book, "Muhammad: Life and Legend." The Prophet differed from the flawless figure of Islamic tradition, Prof. Nagel says, but "it is quite astonishing to say that thousands and thousands of pages about him were all forged" and there was no such person.

All the same, Prof. Nagel has signed a petition in support of Prof. Kalisch, who has faced blistering criticism from Muslim groups and some secular German academics. "We are in Europe," Prof. Nagel says. "Education is about thinking, not just learning by heart."

Prof. Kalisch's religious studies center recently removed a sign and erased its address from its Web site. The professor, a burly 42-year-old, says he has received no specific threats but has been denounced as apostate, a capital offense in some readings of Islam.

"Maybe people are speculating that some idiot will come and cut off my head," he said during an interview in his study.

A few minutes later, an assistant arrived in a panic to say a suspicious-looking digital clock had been found lying in the hallway. Police, called to the scene, declared the clock harmless.

A convert to Islam at age 15, Prof. Kalisch says he was drawn to the faith because it seemed more rational than others. He embraced a branch of Shiite Islam noted for its skeptical bent. After working briefly as a lawyer, he began work in 2001 on a postdoctoral thesis in Islamic law in Hamburg, to go through the elaborate process required to become a professor in Germany.

The Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S. that year appalled Mr. Kalisch but didn't dent his devotion. Indeed, after he arrived at Münster University in 2004, he struck some as too conservative. Sami Alrabaa, a scholar at a nearby college, recalls attending a lecture by Prof. Kalisch and being upset by his doctrinaire defense of Islamic law, known as Sharia.

In private, he was moving in a different direction. He devoured works questioning the existence of Abraham, Moses and Jesus. Then "I said to myself: You've dealt with Christianity and Judaism but what about your own religion? Can you take it for granted that Muhammad existed?"

He had no doubts at first, but slowly they emerged. He was struck, he says, by the fact that the first coins bearing Muhammad's name did not appear until the late 7th century -- six decades after the religion did.

He traded ideas with some scholars in Saarbrücken who in recent years have been pushing the idea of Muhammad's nonexistence. They claim that "Muhammad" wasn't the name of a person but a title, and that Islam began as a Christian heresy.

Prof. Kalisch didn't buy all of this. Contributing last year to a book on Islam, he weighed the odds and called Muhammad's existence "more probable than not." By early this year, though, his thinking had shifted. "The more I read, the historical person at the root of the whole thing became more and more improbable," he says.

He has doubts, too, about the Quran. "God doesn't write books," Prof. Kalisch says.

Some of his students voiced alarm at the direction of his teaching. "I began to wonder if he would one day say he doesn't exist himself," says one. A few boycotted his lectures. Others sang his praises.

Prof. Kalisch says he "never told students 'just believe what Kalisch thinks' " but seeks to teach them to think independently. Religions, he says, are "crutches" that help believers get to "the spiritual truth behind them." To him, what matters isn't whether Muhammad actually lived but the philosophy presented in his name.

This summer, the dispute hit the headlines. A Turkish-language German newspaper reported on it with gusto. Media in the Muslim world picked up on it.

Germany's Muslim Coordinating Council withdrew from the advisory board of Prof. Kalisch's center. Some Council members refused to address him by his adopted Muslim name, Muhammad, saying that he should now be known as Sven.

German academics split. Michael Marx, a Quran scholar at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, warned that Prof. Kalisch's views would discredit German scholarship and make it difficult for German scholars to work in Muslim lands. But Ursula Spuler-Stegemann, an Islamic studies scholar at the University of Marburg, set up a Web site called solidaritymuhammadkalisch.com and started an online petition of support.

Alarmed that a pioneering effort at Muslim outreach was only stoking antagonism, Münster University decided to douse the flames. Prof. Kalisch was told he could keep his professorship but must stop teaching Islam to future school teachers.

The professor says he's more determined than ever to keep probing his faith. He is finishing a book to explain his thoughts. It's in English instead of German because he wants to make a bigger impact. "I'm convinced that what I'm doing is necessary. There must be a free discussion of Islam," he says.

Labels: Anne Humphreys, Arab World, Creationism, Islam, Religion and fanaticism

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 7:58 PM 0 Comments

Have you heard of the candidate of the New Democratic Party of Canada in the riding of Bourassa, on the island of Montreal?

Maybe yes, because it was the subject of several articles in the press. Indeed, columnist Lysiane Gagnon is not in the lace Ms. Laoun.


But what you might not know is that the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC), an Islamist-minded say ... particular, has already had as vice-president Mrs Laoun! Here are some facts arms Canadian Islamic Congress and Ms. Laoun.

When the controversy surrounding the veil at the time to vote in an election, Ms. Laoun said: "For me, this bill of Quebec, one is political recovery, two, it is a editing, it's controversial, therefore joins political recovery, and three of Islamophobia is because Muslim women who never wear the niqab has never requested." (Téléjournal / Le Point de Radio-Canada, 27 October 2007)

When the controversy over Hérouxville, the ICC has threatened to continue the city if it does not reviewing his famous Charter of reasonable accommodations (Le Soleil, 6 February 2006). Hérouxville is certainly went a little hard, but I defy anyone to tell me what the code of life violated a fundamental right!

ICC considers Hezbollah as a simple resistance group, while this terrorist organization is responsible for pluisieurs attacks against civilians. (Marc Nadeau, blog silent majority in the new, 28 August 2006)

The ICC has made 2006 a list of personalities anti when the name of the president of another Muslim organization included: Tariq Fateh ... who founded his own body to denounce the Muslim fundamentalist imams of several Canadian! (La Presse, 6 August 2006)

A spokesman for the ICC was "happy" not to recognize friends in the list of 17 people arrested on terrorism charges in Toronto. (La Presse, 4 June 2006)

The ICC has called for "boycott" of provincial and federal Liberals when the Ontario government has denied that Islamic law (Sharia) applies to family disputes between Muslims. (Canadian Press, 26 September 2005). Tariq Fateh, the moderately while ago, was found when had interviewed on the subject, that the ICC was "ridiculous"!

The chairman of the ICC considers the head of the Shiite militia in Najaf (Iraq) Moqtada Al-Sadr compares to Joan of Arc. Here is what was said Mohamed Elmasry, the big boss of the ICC: "Listening to mention the young religious leader to his supporters or the media, one can not help but believe that this young man is telling the truth-liberation, peace and justice for his people is his deepest desire. As Jeanne d'Arc, Moqtada Al-Sadr is a soldier and a saint." Note that Salam Elmenyawi, a moderate leader of the community, a giggle and heard that comparison. (La Presse, 19 August 2004)

The ICC has defended the visit to Canada of a radical Sunni imam from Saudi Arabia, Abdul Rahman Al-Sudayyis. To note the curiosity that ultimately he was not allowed to return. (La Presse, 15 May 2004)

Of course, the ICC also participated in various demonstrations in which he saw as an entirely legitimate use by Palestinian suicide bombers against Israeli civilians. (Le Droit, 22 April 2002)

The ICC objected in 2001 to various amendments to the Income Tax Act to crack down against the organizations funding terrorism. (Canadian Press, 29 May 2001)

Let's clarify something: I want to believe that Ms. Laoun is not responsible for all stupidities of the ICC. But if it does not share any of the views mentioned above, she says!

I also want to show you some excerpts of the National Post last Friday, in which the columnist Barbara Kay stake is disturbing facts:

Yvonne Ridley is a victim of Stockholm syndrome who became a radical Islam after his capture in Afghanistan. She has already defended the leader of the Chechen rebels behind the hostage taking in Beslan that killed dozens of children, and in the evening of CIC which she participated, she defended the Taliban regime, attacked the West and promoted the fight Hezbollah.

And it is also a fucking crazy one, but a nasty fucking wild one.

A final extract at least interesting:

Further reading: an excellent site on the tipping point Canada on the NDP and Samira Laouni. Please move from one section to another, and be sure to deepen the subject of the Canadian Islamic Congress with the text.

I will entrust you something: I have nothing against the fact that Ms. Laoun arise, especially since his chances of being elected are slim that a fence niqab. But the public has a right to ask questions about his candidacy and the doubtful it maintains links with Islamic political thought problem! When people will vote for Bourassa in a month, they deserve to know any political opinions that which represents the NDP in their constituency.

I conclude by addressing members of the NDP in the riding of Bourassa: Here is a personalized sign for your riding association ... to you to refute.

Me, when I see and hear people claim to defend my female dignity by spiting on me and treating me as shameless fornication because I lost my virginity since I'm 14 years old, and when Francis is told on the radio because he has "listened Blue Night" in the 90s, it made him a "pervert boy, rapist and unscrupulous", believe me, we want to fucking fight.

Anne Humphreys

Labels: Anne Humphreys, Arab World, Hostile races, Human mistake, Islam

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 12:05 PM 0 Comments