"Blasphemy can lead to apostasy," by Dr. Wan Azhar Wan Ahmed for The Star, May 25:

Though Islamic tradition offers no exact equivalent for the term blasphemy, Muslims without proper knowledge who criticise the religion may fall into infidelity or apostasy.

Blasphemy, derived from the Greek term meaning "speaking evil", is contemptuous or irreverent words or speech about God or things regarded as sacred.

Its synonyms, among others, are abuse, desecration, execration, profanation, repudiation, derogation, denunciation, heresy, insult, impiety, sacrilege, scurrility and reviling.

"To blaspheme" is to speak about the Divine or those sacred things impiously, disrespectfully.

In Islam, words that pierce the Almighty God with insults (sabb), insinuate the Prophet Muhammad, or mock any part of the Revelation constitutes religious crimes.

Though Islamic tradition offers no exact equivalent, these situations are analogous or comparable to blasphemy. The Quranic term that comes fairly close to blasphemy is "words of infidelity" (kalimat al-kufr).

Theologically speaking, blasphemy may overlap with or lead to infidelity, i.e. deliberate rejection of God and Revelation.

To a lesser degree, but equally destructive, expressing religious opinions at variance with the standard established Islamic worldview or creed could easily be looked upon as blasphemous.

And this blasphemy may also be defined as any verbal expression that possibly gives grounds for apostasy (riddah). [...]

From the inception of Islam, the religion has been confronted with a lot of opposition. The Prophet Muhammad himself encountered vehement rejection from the Arab people and leaders of Mecca. They disputed, abused, rejected and ridiculed many Quranic teachings brought by him. They not only mocked his claim as the prophet of God but also accused him of many derogatory names and professions.

To make a long story short, people died.

Based on the Noble Quran and Sunnah, the nature and conditions for blasphemy have been elaborated upon by scholars. They describe it as the expression of denigration, contempt or scorn for God, the Prophets, the Quran, the angels, or the traditional religious sciences based on Revelation.

The list goes to those remarks that offend the qualified and true religious scholars. Insults to the authoritative religious scholarship is tantamount to rejection of religious knowledge itself. It implies that the Revelation is untruthful, implicating the Prophet and ultimately Almighty God.

The aforementioned antagonism has been taking place in Islamic history since the time of the Prophet. It is still happening today and will continue to the future.

What is more unfortunate, is that it is done by Muslims themselves, the confused ones. They question the rationale and even validity of certain religious pronouncements, claiming injustices and discrimination, for example, against gender, as well as violation of human rights on the part of Islam. [...]

Blasphemous Muslims must be aware that they may fall into infidelity or apostasy if they choose to remain obstinate after being told the truth.

"Italy: Deported Moroccans 'plotted to kill Pope'," from AdnKronos International, May 13:

Rome, 13 May (AKI) - Two Moroccan terrorist suspects deported from Italy last month were allegedly plotting to kill Pope Benedict XVI, Italian weekly Panorama claims in its latest issue to be released on Friday. Mohammed Hlal and Errahmouni Ahmed were students at the University of Perugia until their repatriation to Morocco on 29 April.

"Hlal wanted to kill the Vatican's head of state (the pope), saying he was ready to assassinate him and gain his place in paradise," Italy's interior minister Roberto Maroni wrote in the expulsion order authorising Hlal and Ahmed's deportations, cited by Panorama.

Anti-terror police in Perugia intercepted Hlal discussing his plans to carry out attacks and readiness to obtain explosives for the attacks during a series of tapped telephone conversations, according to Panorama.

Moroccan authorities on 6 May released Hlal and Ahmed, who had been receiving legal assistance from a local human rights association.

The pair have denied any wrongdoing and said they intend to challenge their expulsions in the administrative tribunal in Italy's Lazio region surrounding Rome.

In a media statement issued at the time of their expulsion, the Italian interior ministry described the men as "dangerous" and a "threat to national security".

The interior ministry claimed they had links to an international network of Islamist miliists [sic] and were prepared to carry out "extremist acts".

Hlal and Ahmed's deportation followed a probe begun by anti-terrorism police in October 2009 into a group of radical Muslim foreign students in Italy, most of whom came from the Moroccan city of Fez. Several were studying at Perugia.

The interior ministry said Hlal and Ahmed belonged to this group.

Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-American who tried to set off a car bomb in Times Square, has numerous links to the Taliban in Pakistan and there are increasing indications that he was not a “lone wolf” as was initially assumed. The plot is proof that the Taliban is just as much a terrorist group as Al-Qaeda and must be treated the same way.

The media and public officials were quick to say that the attacker was probably a “lone wolf” and perhaps not even a Muslim. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, “If I had to guess 25 centers…[it’s] somebody who’s homegrown, maybe a mentally deranged person or someone with a political agenda that doesn’t like the health care bill or something, it could be anything.” General Petraeus, amazingly, has just said that Shahzad is a “lone wolf” that was only inspired by Pakistani terrorists, and did not have direct contact with them. This theory is laughable in the face of new evidence.

Shahzad says he was inspired by Anwar al-Awlaki, a top Al-Qaeda leader in Yemen that has been connected to the failed Christmas Day bomber and the Fort Hood shooter. One report says that he is claiming to have actually met al-Awlaki, the Pakistani Taliban’s leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, and a member of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the terrorist group behind the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai. Federal officials stress that he may be exaggerating his connections and they have not yet verified his claims, but other links substantiate what he’s saying.

It is known that he spent five months in Pakistan and he has admitted receiving training from members of the Taliban in North Waziristan. His father was a high-level official in Pakistan’s Air Force, which may explain why the authorities have found that his family and that of Emir Beitullah Mehsud, a Taliban leader killed in 2009, share a long friendship. Shahzad also has a friendship since childhood with one of the key operatives involved in the Mumbai attacks, giving credence to his claims of meeting Hakimullah Mehsud and a Lashkar-e-Taiba member.

The Pakistani authorities have arrested at least seven people suspected of being connected to Shahzad, including Muhammed Rehan, who is believed to have traveled with him and acted as his liaison. Rehan was arrested as he left a mosque known to be frequented by members of Jaish-e-Mohammed. Five American recruits that traveled to Pakistan to join the Taliban and Al-Qaeda were arrested at the home of a Jaish-e-Mohammed member in December. Tohaid Ahmed, another JEM member, was detained after he was found to be exchanging emails with Shahzad. Phone records reveal that Shahzad had been communicating with people in Pakistan in the time leading up to the attack and CBS News reports that he flew to Pakistan at least a dozen times in the past 11 years.

Shahzad is now believed to have been trained at a camp run by Qari Hussain Mehsud, the Taliban’s top instructor in suicide bombing and explosives, providing another indication that he was not lying about meeting the top Pakistani Taliban leader, who is the official’s cousin. Qari Hussain Mehsud appeared on a tape to claim credit for the Times Square plot, but he was quickly dismissed. However, officials are saying that his video was recorded prior to the attack, indicating that he knew of it in advance. The YouTube channel that the video was uploaded to was called “Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan” and was started one day before the attempted bombing. It is noteworthy that whoever posted the video did so in Connecticut, where Shahzad lived before moving to Pakistan. This same channel was used to release the two videos showing that Hakimullah Mehsud was not killed as the U.S. had previously thought.

Pakistani terrorists are suspected of financing Shahzad’s acquisition of the ticket for the plane he wanted to use to escape the country and the vehicle he tried to blow up. He was originally put on a Department of Homeland Security watch list for bringing $80,000 in cash between 1998 and 2008. Since 2007, he was not paying bills on time, defaulted on two loans for his home, and is not believed to have had a job since February when he came back to the U.S. from Pakistan. Someone else had to have supplied the money to pay for his rent, his travel, and the expenses of his plot and planned escape.

Strangely, despite the videos claiming responsibility, a Taliban spokesman has denied that the group trained or even had contact with Shahzad. All of the indications are that this is false. It is possible that the Taliban are now worried that the failed plot will make the Pakistani government unable to withstand U.S. pressure for further offensives into their strongholds. It is equally possible that the Taliban’s allies in the Pakistani government have asked them to deny responsibility, as sources in Pakistani intelligence are telling the media that there is no way the Taliban has such capabilities.

The Pakistanis are currently refusing to launch an operation in North Waziristan, saying that its armed forces are too tied up and further action could jeopardize counter-insurgency efforts in the Swat Valley and South Waziristan, even though they recently held 50,000-strong exercises near the border of India. If the Times Square plot is officially linked to North Waziristan and terrorist groups the Pakistanis have been reluctant to stomp out, the U.S. is going to demand the removal of their safe havens there.

Officials should not be so quick to dismiss an apparent homegrown terrorist as being unconnected from the international networks, as anyone sympathetic to radical Islamic causes will seek out the bases in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and elsewhere. Voices in favor of a more law enforcement-oriented approach to fighting terrorism are sure to emphasize “lone wolf” theories, but these “lone wolves” almost always end up being connected to foreigners, and at the very least, homegrown jihad is a symptom of an overseas disease.

"Clerics protest "Judaization" of J'lem," by Ahmad al-Beheri for Al-Masri Al-Youm, May 9:

Taysir el-Tamimi, Palestine's chief Islamic judge, called on Muslims and Christians from all over the world to visit Jerusalem to combat the ongoing "Judaization" of the city by Israeli authorities.

"The Palestinian cause is not for the Palestinians alone," el-Tamimi said at the Fifth International Forum of Al-Azhar Alumni on Sunday. "It is also for all the Muslims and Christians of the world."

"Religious edicts forbidding Muslim and Christian worshipers from visiting Jerusalem have only served to isolate the city more and allowed Israel to continue with its Judaization schemes," he added, pointing to a subway tunnel that Israel is reportedly building under Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque.

"Israel has injected the walls of the mosque with certain chemicals that will speed erosion of the building," he said.

Recently-appointed Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, for his part, said he remained adamant in his refusal to visit Jerusalem under current circumstances. "Visiting the city amounts to an acknowledgment of the Israeli occupation," he said.

(CNN) -- The ranking Republican on the House intelligence committee says "there probably is a strong link" between Times Square car bombing suspect Faisal Shahzad and the Taliban in Pakistan.

Rep. Peter Hoekstra told CNN's American Morning on Thursday that he has drawn that conclusion from a number of sources.

"If this is accurate, it would be a game-changer," Hoekstra said.

"We're going to get much more aggressive and perhaps more creative in terms of how we gather intelligence to find the plots and find individuals to stop them," he said.

He said his committee, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, will be getting an official briefing later Thursday.

According to a law enforcement source with knowledge of Shahzad's questioning, the suspect made a practice run in Manhattan the day before he allegedly tried to blow up a car bomb in Times Square.

Last Friday, Shahzad drove his white Isuzu from Connecticut through Times Square, where he staked out potential locations for the following night's planned attack, the source said. He then parked the Isuzu several blocks away from Times Square, though the precise location was unclear, and took a train back to Connecticut, the source said.

Separately, authorities in Pakistan have rounded up a number of people for questioning, as U.S. law enforcement officials sought Wednesday to piece together Shahzad's actions and motivations.

Iftikhar Mian, the father-in-law of the suspect, and Tauseef Ahmed, Shahzad's friend, were picked up in Karachi, Pakistan, on Tuesday, two intelligence officials said.

An intelligence source said Wednesday that Muhammed Rehan, an associate of Shahzad, also was detained Tuesday.

New details began to emerge on how Shahzad made his way to Times Square on Saturday night.

With his recently acquired Pathfinder loaded with his makeshift explosives, Shahzad drove southbound along Manhattan's East River on FDR Drive to the 49th Street exit, the law enforcement source said.

Shahzad then pulled over and reached into the Pathfinder's rear compartment where he attempted to set into motion the process needed to set off the homemade bomb, the source said.

The source, who did not explain how Shahzad had attempted to set off the bomb, said he then took a number of turns and wound up entering Times Square by driving south down Seventh Avenue.

It's unclear why Shahzad left the Pathfinder's engine running and hazard lights blinking.

But because of an incredible goof, Shahzad couldn't use his escape car. He had accidentally left the keys to that vehicle in the Pathfinder that he thought was about to blow up, the source said....

It was payback.

The Connecticut man charged yesterday with the botched Times Square car bombing confessed to trying to slaughter innocent people in retaliation for US drone attacks that wiped out the leadership of his beloved Taliban, The Post has learned.

Admitted terrorist Faisal Shahzad -- who copped to training in explosives in the past year with Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, the leading extremist Islamic group in his native Pakistan -- said he was driven to evil by the slew of deaths among leaders of the terror group, law-enforcement sources revealed yesterday.

His training came in a tribal area where American drone aircraft have pummeled members of the Pakistan Taliban and al Qaeda in the past year.

Sources said he was an eyewitness to the onslaught throughout the eight months he spent in Pakistan beginning last summer.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the Times Square bombing attempt immediately after it occurred, saying it was in response to the drone killing of one of its leaders in August -- but that claim had been roundly discounted by US authorities at the time.

But by yesterday, Pakistani Foreign Minister Makhdoom Qureshi said, "This is a blowback. This is a reaction. This is retaliation. And you could expect that," according to CBS News.

"Let's not be naive. They're going to fight back."...

When grilled by investigators, Shahzad "admitted he had attempted to detonate a bomb in Times Square. He also said he had recently received five months' worth of bomb-making instruction in Waziristan, Pakistan," a criminal complaint says....

Among those arrested in Pakistan was Tauhid Ahmed, with whom Shahzad had been communicating via e-mail and whom he'd met at least once.

Also busted was Muhammad Rehan, who was picked up at a mosque associated with militant activity. Shahzad during his trip to Pakistan had met with Rehan.

Investigators were also looking at possible ties between Shahzad and David Headley, another Pakistani American, who pleaded guilty to the 2008 bombings in Mumbai, India, The Daily Beast Web site reported....

"The threat keeps growing: List of terrorists in our midst gets longer and longer," an editorial from the New York Daily News, May 1 (thanks to Sr. Soph):

...Hard on the heels of Najibullah Zazi's subway bomb try, the Manhattan U.S. attorney has indicted two Brooklyn men, U.S. citizens, for allegedly conspiring to abet Al Qaeda's communication needs and its capacity to detonate explosives.

Count the arrests of Wesam el-Hanafi and Sabirhan Hasanoff as another victory for America's anti-terror forces, but do not sleep well, for the enemy is determined and dispered [sic] among us.

Even a partial inventory of attempted attacks by radicalized Muslims on these shores puts the threat into terrifying perspective:

• Jose Padilla, arrested in 2002 as the so-called dirty bomber, was convicted of conspiring with Islamic terrorists.
• The Lackawanna Six - Sahim Alwan, Faysal Galab, Shafal Mosed, Yasein Taher, Yahya Goba and Mukhtar al-Bakri - were busted in 2002 and convicted of aiding Osama Bin Laden.
• Ohio truck driver Iyman Faris was charged in 2003 with conspiring to topple the Brooklyn Bridge. He was sentenced to 20 years.
• Eleven men, known as the Virginia jihad network, were charged in 2003 with planning to train at terrorist camps. Nine were U.S. citizens. They were sentenced to prison.
• U.S. citizen James Elshafay admitted plotting in 2004 to blow up the Herald Square station.
• Yassin Araf and Mohmmad Hossein were arrested in Albany in 2004 for trying to buy a grenade launcher to assassinate a Pakistani diplomat. They got 15 years.
• U.S. citizens Umer Hayat and Hamid Hayat, his son, were arrested in California in 2005 after lying to the FBI about Hamid's attendance at an Al Qaeda training camp. They were convicted.
• Four members of terror cell Jam'iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh were charged in 2005 with conspiring to attack the Los Angeles airport. Three went to prison, one to a mental facility.
• Michael Reynolds was busted in 2005 for plotting to blow up a Wyoming natural-gas refinery. He was sentenced to 30 years.
• Syed Haaris Ahmed, a Pakistani, and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, an American of Bangladeshi descent, were charged in 2006 with conspiring to make videos for extremists. They were convicted.
• Seven men, including five U.S. citizens, were charged in 2006 with conspiring to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower. Six were convicted.
• Former U.S. sailor Hassan Abujihaad was accused in 2007 of giving locations of Navy ships to a group that supports terrorists. He got 10 years.
• Six New Jersey men were imprisoned in a 2007 conspiracy to attack Fort Dix.
• An American and three others allegedly plotted to bomb fuel lines at JFK. They await trial.
• Christopher Paul, a U.S. citizen, was arrested in 2008 for conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction against U.S. and European targets. He got 20 years.
• Four men were charged in 2009 with plotting to bomb Bronx synagogues. They await trial.
• Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, a Jordanian living in Dallas, was charged in 2009 with trying to car-bomb an office tower.
• Michael Finton of Illinois was busted in 2009 in a courthouse bomb plot inspired by American Taliban John Walker Lindh.
• Bryant Neal Vinas of Long Island was busted in 2009 for allegedly giving Al Qaeda information on the subways and Long Island Rail Road.
• Brooklyn-born Betim Kaziu was charged in 2009 with trying to join an Al Qaeda affiliate in hope of killing U.S. troops.
• Twelve Americans were indicted in 2009 for allegedly supporting Al Shabaab, a terror group seeking to overthrow the Somali government.
• Colleen LaRose, aka Jihad Jane, was charged this year with plotting to kill a Swedish cartoonist who had depicted the Prophet Mohammed.
• Sharif Mobley, a 26-year-old New Jersey man, was arrested in March in a roundup of Al Qaeda suspects in Yemen.

Zazi admitted he and pals planned to suicide-bomb Grand Central and Times Square subways....

Hmmm. What do all those people have in common? What, oh, what, could it be?

Riyadh (AsiaNews) - The Saudi official news agency, SPA, had reported his dismissal only to delete all reports a few hours later, a fatwa says "he should be killed," the Grand Mufti has denied his authority to speak about Islamic law. He, Ahmed al Ghamdi, head of the religious police in Mecca, the first holy city of Islam, confirms his convictions: men and women can pray together and meet freely, even if only in public.

The episode has been strictly censored by Saudi Arabia, monitored by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the official name of the muttawa, the religious police. Of which Ghamdi is a senior official.

The question of the possibility of men and women "mixing" - in public, never in private - has for weeks been at the centre of a debate between scholars and politicians. Thus, the Saudi newspaper The National, has devoted a long article to the story, recalling the words of the Justice Minister Muhammad al Issa who warned against confusing public promiscuity, which he believes is allowed by Islam, with meetings in private between men and women who are neither married nor related by kinship, which is prohibited.

The problem is not merely one of religious tradition, it also has economic implications. The ban has in fact heavy negative influences on women's employment and foreign investment since it requires gender division even in the offices of international companies.

So, since December, when Ghamdi first spoke out on the issue, the question has occupied newspapers and television programs. A debate which is due to the climate of moderate reforms that King Abdullah is introducing into the country in an attempt to modernize it.

But the reaction of conservatives has been very hard. If Ghamdhi argues that the division did not exist at the time of Mohammed his opposers cry of violations of Sharia and apostasy.

Memo to Asia News: "conservatives" generally do not advocate the strict separation of the sexes, or call for the murder of those who oppose that separation.

Sheikh Abdulrahman Al Barrak has issued a fatwa which says that promiscuity "as supported by modernists" is prohibited because it allows "the sight of what is forbidden and prohibited conversations between men and women." Anyone who facilitates such promiscuity is an infidel", and if not retracted "should be killed". And finally, anyone who allows his daughter, sister or wife to work with men or to attend a mixed school is guilty of "a kind of prostitution"....

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- An ongoing controversy over Dr. Parvez Ahmed being appointed to Jacksonville's Human Rights Commission might spark controversy between council members themselves Tuesday night.

Councilman Ray Holt called Channel 4 Monday afternoon to say he is changing his vote to approve Ahmed's nomination.

"I don't want to put somebody on there who might someday rationalize or minimize violence in Jacksonville," Holt said.

Holt said he changed his vote from yes to no after he e-mailed Ahmed about his views on issues concerning many issues on terrorism and the Middle East. Holt said Ahmed e-mailed him back a document he wrote.

"I read through it. It's 30 pages long, but I read through it," Holt said. "I think he minimizes terrorism. I think he rationalizes terrorism. And it just showed poor judgment."

Holt said one of his concerns is Ahmed calls the Iraq war a "U.S.-led fiasco." Another concern is a quote by Ahmed saying, "Both Hamas and Hezbollah have conducted suicide bombings that killed civilians. Unlike al-Qaida, however, they do not embrace such violence as a matter of policy."

"Well I don't care if it's their stated policy. They do it. And it's wrong and for you to rationalize it by saying it's not their stated policy," Holt said. "I think that shows a real gap in judgment."...

Bravo, Mr. Holt.

A decision to replace a senior Saudi religious police officer on Sunday has been retracted hours after reports that he was sacked following comments about easing the rules for prayer in mosques, and allowing men and women to mix freely.

An official report earlier said Sheikh Ahmed al-Ghamdi was replaced as general manager for the Mecca branch of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in an announcement from the organisation's president, Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Humain.

In the report, Humain gave no reason for the move, which included several other new appointments of senior officials of the religious police, popularly known as the muttawa.

Ghamdi was reportedly dressed down three days ago by the country's highest cleric for saying that Muslims are not necessarily required to pray inside a mosque with a group of other Muslims in daily prayers.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh told Ghamdi he was getting involved in matters of Islamic sharia law that were outside his authority, the Al-Madinah newspaper reported on Friday.

Al-Sheikh also said in his sermon during Friday prayers that anyone suggesting that congregation prayer is not necessary is "leading people to hell," according to reports.

Ghamdi's replacement followed his denial on Wednesday that he had already been sacked for statements advocating free mixing of unrelated men and women.

Ghamdi, who could not immediately be contacted, has said several times since December that there is nothing in scripture supporting the strict segregation enforced by Saudi Arabia's ultra-strict Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam.

The U.S., European Union and their African allies are training and equipping the security forces of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government to try to take back the parts of Mogadishu now under the control of an Al-Qaeda affiliate. Large portions of the city, known to most Americans as the site of the 1993 ambush that prompted the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the country, is controlled by the al-Shabaab terrorist group. Should Al-Qaeda and its allies succeed in seizing Somalia, they will be able to resurrect the network they lost in Afghanistan and activate their Somali networks in the West to deadly effect.

Recent incidents show the terrifying reach of al-Shabaab. An individual in Virginia named Anthony Joseph Tracy that admits having contact with the terrorist group is known to have smuggled 270 Somalis into the U.S., all of whom are believed to remain in the country and have proven extremely difficult to identify. It is improbable that al-Shabaab would use its resources to sneak random Somalis into the country. The odds are that these are their recruits and they are being used to establish sleeper cells in our midst. Considering that less than 20 terrorists were needed to execute 9/11, the number of nearly 300 could have catastrophic consequences.

A law enforcement report reveals that 23 Somalis suspected of being connected to al-Shabaab were arrested in Mexico early in the year as they planned to enter the United States. The Mexican authorities released the group on January 21, despite the fact that only 16 had been identified. One of those arrested was Mohamed Osman Noor, a member of al-Shabaab. It is not clear why the Mexicans released them but it is more than likely that the Somalis made their trip to the U.S. as they intended, albeit a little later than they had hoped.

Al-Shabaab has had great success in recruiting among the Somali communities in the West, many of whom have arrived under refugee programs meant to help those in the war-torn country. About 20 Somali-Americans have disappeared from the Minneapolis area alone and are assumed to have joined al-Shabaab’s ranks, at least six of whom have died in Somalia. The first American citizen to become a suicide bomber, Shirwa Ahmed, killed himself and as many as 30 others in Somalia in October 2008. Fourteen Americans have been charged for their involvement in al-Shabaab’s recruiting and transporting of Somali-Americans. This Al-Qaeda affiliate’s infrastructure in the West, particularly in the United States, is undoubtedly expansive, sophisticated, and successful.

In November 2007, terrorism expert Patrick Poole wrote that “…there exists an active recruiting and transportation network in the U.S., including Minneapolis, for Somali-run terrorist training camps, many of which have recently reopened. In many instances, these same Somali leaders purporting ignorance and innocence for the local media are not only aware of these recruiting operations, but have actively participated in them.”

At least five Somalis from Canada disappeared and probably joined al-Shabaab in November 2009, and dozens of Somalis in the United Kingdom have gone to their homeland for training and returned back. A Somali member of al-Shabaab is charged with trying to murder the Danish cartoonist who authored a degrading picture of Mohammed. This month, the Kenyan authorities arrested a Somali-Australian believed to be involved in an al-Shabaab terrorist plot in Australia but was accidentally released. Last August, the Australians arrested four suspected al-Shabaab terrorists believed to be planning attacks, some of whom had fought in Somalia.

Somalis have been captured in Saudi Arabia and Yemen after linking up with the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels, and Al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen are reinforcing al-Shabaab in Somalia. In this way, Yemen and Somalia can be compared to Afghanistan and Pakistan, as progress in one is offset by the harbor available on the other side. The increasing role of al-Shabaab and Al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen in ongoing terrorist operations make an aggressive effort on both ends imperative.

Al-Shabaab currently controls southern Somalia and large portions of Mogadishu. Absent extensive aid to the forces of the Transitional Federal Government and militias like the Sunnah Wal Jama that are fighting them, Al-Qaeda will win the battle of Mogadishu and take control of Somalia. It is well within al-Shabaab’s capability to authorize attacks inside the United States, Canada and Europe, especially in light of the new revelation that one of their partners has smuggled in 270 Somalis into the U.S. The question is why they haven’t. It’s possible that they fear that doing so will expose their networks in the U.S., or that they don’t want to provoke the West into intervening further in Somalia.

It is unclear why al-Shabaab has not tried to perpetrate an attack in America yet, but it is clear that they have the capability and that capability will dramatically expand as they conquer Somalia. Al-Shabaab has pledged its allegiance to Al-Qaeda, and they fully intend to use their networks to carry out the follow-up attacks on America that Bin Laden has thus far been unable to. If Somalia falls to Al-Qaeda and its affiliates, then it will be their biggest victory since 9/11.

in this case, no actual dhimmis or churches are involved. The bells just remind the Islamic supremacists of churches, and so they have to be silenced.

"Bells toll no more for schools in Somali town," from Reuters, April 15 (thanks to Alexandre):

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's al Shabaab militants have ordered schools in Jowhar town to stop using bells to signal the end of classes because they sound like those of Christian churches, teachers said on Thursday.

Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab is Somalia's most powerful insurgent group and controls large parts of the south and the capital Mogadishu. It is battling the western-backed government for control of the Horn of Africa nation.

Teachers and a school headmaster in Shabaab-controlled Jowhar town, some 90 km (56 miles) north of Mogadishu, said an al Shabaab member had ordered schools to silence their bells because the sound was too similar to those in Christian churches.

"We were called by Sheikh Farah, the head of Al Shabaab's education, and he told us that we can't use bell sounds from now on. He said any school heard using bell sounds after now will be brought to Islamic justice," a school teacher in Jowhar told Reuters by telephone.

A local headmaster confirmed the report and added that al Shabaab had informed his school that it would begin explaining to students the significance of Islamic Jihad.

Now here is yet another opportunity for CAIR's gentle stomach-stapled beekeeper, Honest Ibe Hooper, and Brave Ahmed Rehab and all the rest. They could send a CAIR team over to Somalia to teach the Misunderstanders of Islam of al-Shabaab the true, peaceful significance of Islamic Jihad. How about it, Honest Ibe? Brave Ahmed? What better way to demonstrate your moderate bona fides, eh?

Al Shabaab runs administrations in the areas it controls using a harsh version of sharia law, cutting off hands of thieves, making sure women wear veils and banning what it calls social vices, like music and TV sports....

That "harsh" version of Sharia is rooted in Qur'anic literalism -- for example, the amputation of thieves' hands is commanded in Qur'an 5:38.

An 11-year-old Yemeni girl who was was married to a man in country's Hajja province was hospitalized today with genital injuries, said a human rights group in Sanaa.

It was the second incident involving a child bride in the last week. A 13-year-old girl died after being sexually assaulted by her adult husband. Both girls were married in the country's rural Hajja province.

The 11-year-old girl was married last year only under the condition that the adult husband would wait until she reached puberty to consummate the marriage. He did not wait, nor do many of the men who marry young brides, says Amal Basha, director of the Arabic Sisters Forum.

An estimated 50 percent of women in Yemen are married before age 18, some as young as 8. Less than a week ago the Sana'a-based human rights group reported the death of a 13-year-old bride in the same rural area. The Associated Press reported the girl was allegedly raped, and that her 23-year-old husband is now in police custody.

"She looked like she was butchered," said the girl's mother, Nijma Ahmed. The AP also cited police a report saying the husband forced himself on his young bride, feeling under pressure to prove his manhood.

An average of eight women die each day in Yemen due to child marriage, many of them in childbirth, according to the Arabic Sisters Forum. The group runs a hotline for victims of domestic violence and has been lobbying in support of a minimum marriage age now under consideration by the Yemeni parliament.

Pushing against the proposed law is the strong hand of Islamic conservatives in Yemen. Clerics have declared women like Amal Basha apostates from Islam for opposing child marriage, which they see as divinely ordained. The government, she says, is intimidated by the religious and tribal customs.

"They say this is Islamic...and they declared jihad against... the UN treaty on women's rights," she said.

"They say my campaign is a Western agenda, that it will lead to sex out of wedlock and prostitution," Basha said....

"Dead Yemeni Child Bride Tied Up, Raped, Says Mom," from the Associated Press, April 10 (thanks to Sr. Soph):

SHUEBA, Yemen (AP) -- A 13-year-old Yemeni child bride who bled to death shortly after marriage was tied down and forced to have sex by her husband, according to interviews with the child's mother, police and medical reports.

The girl's mother, Nijma Ahmed, 50, told the Associated Press that before her daughter lost consciousness, she said that her husband had tied her up and forced himself on her. ''She looked like she was butchered,'' she said about her daughter's injuries.

Elham Assi, 13, bled to death hours after she spoke to her mother and just days after she was married to a 23-year-old man. She died on April 2 in the deeply poor Yemeni village of Shueba, some 200 kilometers northwest of the capital. Her husband, Abed al-Hikmi, is in police custody.

The practice of marrying young girls is widespread in Yemen where a quarter of all females marry before the age of 15, according to a 2009 report by the country's Ministry of Social Affairs. Traditional families prefer young brides because they are seen as more obedient and are expected to have more children.

Legislation to ban child brides has been stalled by opposition from religious leaders. There has been no government comment over the case.

The girl -- one of eight siblings -- was pushed into marriage after an agreement between her brother and her future-husband to marry each other's sisters to avoid having to pay expensive bride-prices -- a common arrangement in Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East.

According to police notes from the interrogation of the husband, he was upset because he could not consummate their relationship and felt under pressure to prove his manhood.

Assi's mother said she also tried to persuade her daughter to have sex with her husband so as not to shame the family.

Al-Hikmi took his young bride to a nearby medical clinic, asking a doctor there to administer her tranquilizers so she would not resist his advances. The clinic said it refused.

Al-Hikmi then obtained performance enhancing pills, according to the police interrogation, and that night completed the act while she screamed.

The next day, he returned to the same medical clinic carrying Assi because she could not walk.

''I told him not to go near her for at least ten days,'' said Dr. Fathiya Haidar. She said Assi's vaginal canal was ripped.

A forensic report obtained by the AP showed that Assi's injuries were much more extensive, including extensive tearing around the vagina and rectum, suggesting that there might have been additional intercourse after the clinic visit.

Her mother said she visited Assi later that day, where she found her daughter fading in and out of consciousness.

''She whispered in my ear that he had tied her up and had sex with her violently,'' she said. ''I said to her husband, what have you done, you criminal?''

She said al-Hikmi told her that the young bride was just possessed by spirits and said he would take her to a folk healer to cast them out. Hours later, Assi was dead....

"Bangladesh, High Court rules veil cannot be imposed on women," by William Gomes for AsiaNews, April 9:

Dhaka (AsiaNews) - The Ministry of Education should ensure that women - employed in public institutions - are not required to wear the veil or 'hijab "against their will." This was ordered by the Bangladesh High Court, in a ruling issued yesterday of historical significance. The grounds, the judges Syed Mahmud Hossain and Syeda Afsar Jahan agreed that "it is a personal choice of women to wear the veil or not." They add that "forcing a woman to wear the veil against her will" is considered a "flagrant violation" of basic human rights "enshrined in the Constitution."

The historic ruling comes after a dispute between a government official and the director of an elementary school in the district of Kurigram, for which the man later apologised. Arif Ahmed had insulted Sultana Arjuman Huq, director of State elementary school Atmaram Bishweshwar, because she was not wearing a veil. The incident occurred last June, during a public meeting at the headquarters of the Department of Education in upazila (an administrative sub-district of Bangladesh, ed) in which the school is located.

On June 26, 2009 Bangladeshi newspaper Shamokal reported that the man called the school's principal "beshya" - prostitute in the local language -, for not wearing the veil. Sultana Arjuman Huq was deeply affected by the insult causing her to fall into a depression. The woman finally decided to file a lawsuit for injuries. In January 2010 Arif Ahmed apologized to Sultana Arjuman Huq before High Court judges, who then closed the case. The woman, in fact, decided to forgive him.

On April 8, the judges issued the verdict, explaining the reasons for setting veils for women as non-mandatory. "In Bangladesh - write Syed Mahmud Hossain and Syeda Afsar Jahan - there is no established practice that requires women to cover their heads." In recent years, attempts have emerged, "to force" women to this practice "not only at an individual level but also in public offices." The case in hand, they concluded, is evidence of violations of the rights of women and girls "in public spaces, schools, educational institutions and places of public and private education."

Human rights organizations and members of civil society welcomed the court ruling because it is a further source of protection of women's rights. However, some Islamic fundamentalist movements attacked the judges, branding the move as "a conspiracy to destroy Islam in Bangladesh."

Of course the Ministry of Defence was right to apologize. After all, who ever heard of a mosque being used for violent purposes? Yet more dhimmitude in the UK: "MoD apologise over Catterick Garrison firing range 'mosques,'" from The Northern Echo, April 8 (thanks to Twostellas):

The Ministry of Defence apologised today after a Muslim group complained that structures used on an Army firing range resembled mosques.

Bradford Council for Mosques said the structures at Bellerby firing range at Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire should be taken down immediately.

The Army said it was vital soldiers trained in an environment which replicated where they were deployed.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said the structures were ''generic Eastern buildings'' and were not used as target practice.

The spokesman added: ''We apologise for any offence that we may have caused. It was never our intention for these generic structures to look like or replicate mosques, only to provide a setting similar to operational environments in which our personnel could train.

''We are seeking a meeting with representatives from the Muslim community to hear their concerns in order to discuss the way forward.''

Mohammed Saleem Khan, chief executive of the Bradford Council for Mosques, said the shape and colour of the structures - a green dome - symbolised an Islamic place of worship.

''It is so obvious. Even a non-Muslim recognised the significance. The first person who raised the issue with us was a non-Muslim,'' he said.

''We are trying to achieve unity and cohesion and encourage British Muslims to participate in the Army and we accommodate visits from the Army.

''It is clearly very offensive. We feel there should be an apology and they should be removed straight away. If it was a mistake it should be removed straight away.''

This BBC report, meanwhile, features some noteworthy remarks from Ishtiaq Ahmed on how this mosque on the firing range will give people the crazy impression that mosques could be centers of violent activity:

"Army builds 'mosques' on North Yorkshire firing range," from the BBC, April 8 (thanks to all who sent this in):

[...] Ishtiaq Ahmed of the BCM said that they were undoubtedly meant to resemble mosques.

"The shape of the structures, the colour of the dome - the green dome - symbolises an Islamic place of worship," he said.

"Anyone looking at it will think about mosques and Muslims and think about them negatively."

He accused the Army of reinforcing negative perceptions of Muslims.

"What angers me very much is that we are conditioning the young British to say that mosques are a place where you are going to find danger and a place to target," Mr Ahmed said.

"That is really disturbing."

Yes, I am indeed really disturbed by this. Here's why: recently we have seen mosques used to preach hatred; to spread exhortations to terrorist activity; to house a bomb factory; to store weapons; to disseminate messages from bin Laden; to demand (in the U.S.) that non-Muslims conform to Islamic dietary restrictions; to fire on American troops; to fire upon Indian troops; to train jihadists; and much more.

If anyone is actually giving the impression that, in Ishtiaq Ahmed's words, "mosques are a place where you are going to find danger," it is the people in those mosques themselves.

A message said to be from Osama Bin Laden threatens to kill Americans if the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks is executed by the US.

Al-Jazeera news channel broadcast an audiotape reportedly from the al-Qaeda leader talking about Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other suspects. [...]

The taped message said: "The White House has declared its wish to execute (Mr Mohammed and the other suspects). The day the United States takes such a decision, it would be also taking the decision that any of you falling into our hands will be executed."...

"Mr Mohammed." Reminds me of Neville Chamberlain talking about "Herr Hitler."

The White House has been criticised for planning to put the five suspects on trial in New York. Critics say the trial near the Ground Zero will be expensive and disruptive.

White House officials have yet to decide if the trial will take place in a federal courtroom, or in a military commission.

Prosecutors are expected to seek the death penalty, while White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in January that Mr Mohammed was going to "meet his maker" if found guilty.

The Pentagon says Mr Mohammed has admitted to being responsible "from A to Z" for the attacks in New York and Washington....

Proof that "Osama" is out of touch with reality:

In the tape broadcast on Thursday, the speaker said to be Bin Laden also accused US President Barack Obama of "following the footsteps of his predecessor".

"The politicians in the White House were practising injustice against us and still they are - especially by supporting Israel in its continuous occupation of Palestine," he said.

Yeah, Obama is supporting Israel with a reliability and fervor to rival Pakistan's attachment to its alliance with the United States.

"They used to think that America across the oceans is protected from the rage of the oppressed until our reaction was loudly heard at your home on the 9/11 with God's help."...

How odd that he would think that God would help him commit mass murder. Surely some of the Stateside adherents of the Religion of Peace™ are ready to refute that notion. Honest Ibe? Brave Ahmed? Anyone? Anyone?

NAIROBI, Kenya, March 24 (CDN) -- Islamic militants in Somalia tracked down an underground church leader who had previously escaped a kidnapping attempt and killed him last week, Christian sources said.

Islamic extremist al Shabaab rebels shot Madobe Abdi to death on March 15 at 9:30 a.m. in Mahaday village, 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Johwar. He had escaped an al Shabaab attempt to kidnap him on March 2.

Abdi's death adds to a growing number of Christians murdered by Islamic militants, but his was distinctive in that he was not a convert from Islam. An orphan, Abdi was raised as a Christian.

Sources said the militants prohibited his body from being buried, ordering that it be left to dogs as an example to other Christians. Al shabaab, which is fighting the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of President Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed, has embarked on a campaign to rid the country of all non-Muslims.

"The al Shabaab say, 'Leaving Abdi's body outside is a warning to all that a murtid [infidel] is a disgrace to Muslims,' hence creating fear to whoever would like to choose Christianity," said a source....

No, Islam means submission. Can you make peace with dissembling and half-truths? And are you trying to convince jihadists that their version of Islam is wrong, or is your ire reserved for non-Muslims who dare to notice that Muslims are plotting blood and death against the Infidels in the name of Islam?

"Rev. John B. Rochford, a Baptist minister and administrator of the South East Refugee Information Center, compared the situation to the plight of the Irish decades ago, when they were frequently suspected of terrorism."

Yes, and some Irishmen were terrorists. Thus non-terrorist Irish should have understood the suspicion and cooperated fully with law enforcement efforts -- particularly if they really opposed the terrorism, no?

"U.S. Woman Released in Terror Case," by Neil Shah, Vanessa O'Connell and Evan Perez in the Wall Street Journal, March 15:

Irish police released without charge an American woman who was among seven people arrested last week in Ireland in connection with an alleged plot to murder a Swedish cartoonist.

Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, a 31-year-old Colorado mother and recent convert to Islam who was among those detained, is no longer in the custody of the Irish police, said a person familiar with the matter. Both Irish and U.S. authorities declined to provide further details. [...]

Others worry about the impact of the arrests. Rev. John B. Rochford, a Baptist minister and administrator of the South East Refugee Information Center, compared the situation to the plight of the Irish decades ago, when they were frequently suspected of terrorism.

Some residents also said they were upset about the media's portrayal of the Islamic religion in recent coverage of the terror-related arrests.

Sheikh Ahmed, 45, a law student at the Waterford Institute of Technology, said some coverage in the tabloids--including images of Osama bin Laden--hurts the Muslim community by stirring up tensions.

"It's really shocking to us," he said. "Islam means peace. Can you make peace with terrorism?"