Russian Council of Muftis criticizes Grozny fatwa on 'Who Is recognized as true Muslims'.

Russian Council of Muftis criticizes Grozny fatwa on 'Who Is recognized as true Muslims'. (Caucasianknot).

The final document of the Islamic Conference, held in Grozny, should be revised, says the resolution of the Council of Muftis of Russia.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Islamic Conference "Who are they – Sunnah followers?" held in Grozny on August 25-27 adopted a fatwa (a punishment resolution), according to which only the followers of the Sufi tariqa (Muslim spiritual way) are recognized as true Muslims.

The fatwa treats supporters of Salafism as dangerous separatists. Well-known religious leaders of Russia and the Arab world have criticized the final documents of the Islamic Conference.

The sitting of the co-chairmen of the Council of Muftis of Russia was held on September 26 at the Moscow Cathedral Mosque, headed by Ravil Gainutdin, the Mufti of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM) of Russia. The resolution of the sitting was posted on the website of the Moscow's SAM on September 27.

According to the resolution of the conference, the agenda assumed a discussion of "the most important and still topical issue regarding the acceptance or rejection of the Grozny fatwa 'Who are they – Sunnah followers?'"


Religious leaders have called it necessary to reconsider and significantly modify its wording, "in view of the fact that it makes a split within the country, as well as among the domestic and foreign Muslim community," says the press release of the SAM. Hmmmm.....A new Schism in the 'Religion of peace' in the make?

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.

Related: 'Heretics' - World's leading Sunni clerics declare 'Wahhabism is not Sunnism'

'Refugee children are being raped in camp of the Calais Jungle' say aid workers.

Rigid Muslim socieites have the highest rape scales in the world – Study

'Refugee children are being raped in camp of the Calais Jungle' say aid workers. (Independent).

Medical volunteers say they have treated seven boys aged between 14 and 16 in the past six months.

Teenage boys are being raped in the Calais Jungle, aid workers have claimed, amid concerns over the lack of child protection measures in place in the refugee camp – and the risks of abuse facing thousands of displaced children across the continent.

Medical volunteers helping those camped outside the French town told The Independent they have treated seven boys aged between 14 and 16 in the past six months. who claimed to have been raped. They all had injuries consistent with these claims.

In four cases, the boys required surgery. Only one attended hospital, however, with the others refusing treatment for fear of repercussions or through shame at having been abused. Read the full story here.

Apostolic vicar to Southern Arabia: "Sisters of Mother Teresa were killed for religious reasons".

Apostolic vicar to Southern Arabia: "Sisters of Mother Teresa were killed for religious reasons". (AN).

In a dramatic statement, Mgr Paul Hinder, apostolic vicar to Southern Arabia, spoke to AsiaNews about this morning’s “religiously-motivated” attack against the convent of the Missionaries of Charity in Aden, in southern Yemen.

At 8:30 am, the prelate said, "People in uniform stormed the compound where the Missionaries of Charity live. After they killed the security guard and all the employees that stood in their way, they came for the nuns and opened fire, killing four [sisters]. One managed to hide and survive. Now she is in a safe place.”

The victims are Sister Anselm from India, Sister Marguerite from Rwanda, Sister Judit from Kenya and Sister Reginette also from Rwanda. The superior was able to find a hiding place.

The attackers seized Fr Tom Uzhunnalil, a Salesian priest who lived at the facility. At the time of the attack, he "was in the chapel praying."

Overall, 14 people lost their life: four religious and ten lay people, employees of the community that also housed senior citizens and disabled people.

"We knew that the situation was difficult and that the sisters were running a certain risk,” Mgr Hinder said. In fact, the nuns had been attacked in the past. However, "they decided to stay no matter what because this was part of their spirituality.”


At the same time, “It was clear that the area was not safe, even if there had been no special signs [of trouble]. Getting information was hard." For the prelate though, the "signal is clear: it has something to do with religion". Read the full story here.

Erdogan's Turkey and NetClean Planning to Curtail Internet Freedoms?

Erdogan's Turkey and NetClean Planning to Curtail Internet Freedoms? (GlobalvoicesOnline).

For a few weeks now, digitally active circles in Turkey have been displaying concern over a move by the Turkish government to introduce new Internet controls.

A recent Hürriyet Daily News piece reported that Turkey is planning to work with a Swedish company, NetClean, to fight against child sexual abuse cases (CSA) as part of a supposed €40M deal.

But the Hurriet Daily News report also implied exactly what many digital activists already fear, namely that CSA is just a pretext to intensify state pressure on Internet freedoms in Turkey: the last two restrictive Internet Laws passed in Turkey were created primarily in the name of fighting against CSA.

Nevertheless, the government passionately falls back on the same apparent motivation in each subsequent attack on the web.

Perhaps the best-written post about NetClean's cooperation with Ankara is a Turkish language blog post written by the blogger Kus on network23.org. Kus emphasized that NetClean services will primarily be used for URL-based bans. With the notorious new Internet Law approved earlier this year, the government planned to move towards URL-based blocking instead of shutting down websites. However, with weak domestic cyber-capacity, the government appears to have decided, like many authoritarian states do, to buy targeting services abroad.

Many activists believe NetClean's appearance across the country's internet space may mark the beginning of a real Deep Packet Inspection system of surveillance by the Turkish State, justified under the new law. Prof. Kırlıdoğ's guest post at the EDRi site sums up these anxieties.

DPI surveillance implies that user content may also be subject to increasing government control from now. As noted in a post on the ars technica blog in January last year:

Microsoft has released a security advisory concerning a fraudulent digital certificate for all Google domains apparently created by the Turkish government.

The certificate, which was created by a subsidiary Certificate Authority issued to the transportation directorate of the city government of Ankara, could have been used to intercept SSL traffic as part of a “man in the middle” attack to spoof Google's encryption certificate and decrypt secure Web sessions to Google Plus and GMail. Hmmm....Anyone with half a brain can see this is about to become an Iranian style Turkey....Islamic totalitarian rule.

Dutch Media Discussion on “Gangsta Islam”

Source picture here.

Dutch Media Discussion on “Gangsta Islam” (BadNewsFromTheNetherlands).


In some Dutch media, a discussion has started on a phenomenon called, “Gangster Islam”. The psychologist, Timon Dias, writes that the synthesis between criminality, street life and Islamic religion is a unique European phenomenon.

One of its characteristics is that its members are criminals with a Muslim background who are not very religious, yet see themselves as part of the Muslim community. However criminal they are, they will never say anything negative about Islam.

The Muslim ex-politician, Ibrahim Wijbenga, who warns of the growing influence of the Gangster-Islam, points out that many of the jihadis and the young Muslim extremists have a criminal past. Wijbenga has often been threatened with physical violence, and has had to have police protection.

Last year Wijbenga, who works in Amsterdam against radicalization of young people, was secured months because of his criticism of jihadists, who sent him photographs of automatic AK-47 rifles. "If we, the silent majority of Muslims, do nothing, these criminals hijack our religion."

"It is likely that returning jihadis end up in serious crime, then they commit an attack here. They see Europe as a cash cow that the global jihad can finance. The proceeds of robberies and property of infidels are considered war booty "An informant within the jihadist circles confirms this:". Returned jihadis go back the wrong path, just like before leaving for Syria. They call their crimes here in the Netherlands 'lesser jihad'.

Studies by sociologist Mark Elchardus showed that half of all Muslim students in Brussels, Ghent and Antwerp are anti-Semitic; this percentage is probably much higher among Muslim criminals. Expressions Muslim youth which says 'when I see them, I want them stabbing right' and making Nazi salute toward Jews, are not uncommon.

Islamic scholar Gülen rejects bombings in the name of Islam, 'a terrorist cannot be branded a real Muslim'.

Islamic scholar Gülen rejects bombings in the name of Islam.(TZ).

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has unequivocally rejected terrorist attacks and bombings committed in the name of Islam, adding that a terrorist cannot be branded a real Muslim.

In a speech he delivered to his students at his house in Pennsylvania, Gülen spoke at length about attacks on behalf of Islam, stressing that a real Muslim could never commit a terrorist attack.

His speech was published on Thursday on herkul.org, a website that frequently broadcasts his messages.Gülen's remarks came shortly after a deadly shooting and hostage crisis in a Nairobi mall in which more than 60 people were killed. This week has been particularly bloody across the Middle East, with church and mosque bombings in Iraq and Pakistan killing scores of civilians.

“The most brutal scenes are at play in the name of Islam in a wide geography from Syria to Pakistan and Kenya,” Gülen recalled, noting that perpetrators bomb mosques and churches, slitting throats after alleging that the Quran, holy book of Muslims, orders it. 

Gülen said the picture in the Middle East is also a shame for Muslims and that it stains the face of Islam.

Gülen, who is commonly known as Hojaefendi by his followers, said the terrorist attacks attributed to Muslims are sometimes being undertaken by what he called “raw souls” who fail to fathom Islam with its depth, sometimes by extreme provocation of feelings of young men, sometimes by people disguised as Muslims and sometimes by criminals under the influence of drugs.

Gülen stated that everything is being codified in Islam during both times of peace and war. He said while individuals cannot declare war by themselves and decide to kill a person during the peace time, those during a hot war also cannot kill women, children or the elderly.

According to Islam, he said people also absolutely cannot attack houses of worship of others even during war. “Considering all these things, it is never possible to justify suicide attacks, suicide bombers or similar terrorist attacks," he underlined.

Gülen said the Prophet Muhammad tolerated exceptionally harsh torture during his 13-year life in Mecca and that he only prayed for those who stoned him to find the right path. He said the Prophet Muhammad never resorted to violence despite all the oppression Muslims suffered and that the battles of Badr, Uhud and Kandaq were only defensive in nature.

The Islamic scholar, who is well-known for his inspirational speeches on interfaith dialogue, said the Prophet Muhammad did his best to solve issues without shedding blood, breaking hearts or causing the enmity to unfold.

He said his way of settling issues transformed sworn enemies into his companions, citing Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl, a companion of the Prophet and a leading Islamic commander, who was initially one of the chief opponents to the Prophet Muhammad even during the conquest of Mecca.

Gülen also cited early Islamic scholar Abdullah ibn Abbas as saying that those who unfairly kill an innocent human will stay in hell forever and said terrorism is a crime the holy Quran threatens with the punishment of hell.“Suicide [bombers] would go to hell forever and they will be called to account for innocent people they killed,” Gülen added. 

Saying that conflicts of interest, party and clique rivalry, anti-democratic implementations and human rights abuses in the Islamic geography have resulted in many “dissatisfied groups,” Gülen said some of these groups are ignorant enough to be fooled by “certain services” and use them for their goals.

Gülen said he doesn't see violence perpetrated in the name of Islam as one-sided, also blaming Muslims for the degradation of values which are then being used by others for terrorism purposes.Gülen said lack of spiritual and fundamental humanitarian values are at the root of ignorance that leads to terrorism and that some youth are being manipulated and exploited to “be the actors of scenarios written by others.”

He also urged those who have a representative position to be cautious in their actions and speeches and that calling on people to destroy churches means inviting others to destroy mosques and bomb mosque attendants.“What you sow is what you reap,” Gülen said. “People should sow good things.

”Gülen pointed to what he described as “world paranoia” in reference to Islamophobia, and said it has been renewed due to recent terrorist attacks. In a moment of self-criticism, Gülen said Muslims also have made mistakes causing the spread of this problem. Saying that acknowledging these mistakes and rectifying them will play a very important role in solving the problems, Gülen recalled the mass deportation of Armenians from eastern Turkey during World War I as an example.

Gülen cited a story of Caliph Umar bin Khattab, who asked a patriarch in Jerusalem to show him a place to perform his prayer. When the pastor told him he could pray anywhere in the church, Caliph Umar rejected this and preferred to pray outside the church. After finishing his prayer, Umar told patriarch that he deliberately avoided praying in the church because other Muslims may follow the suit and transform the church into a mosque.“This was us,” Gülen highlighted. “Either from inside or outside, some spoiled us, our genes, they changed us, they made us savages.”

Gülen recalled famous remarks he made earlier -- a terrorist cannot be a Muslim and a Muslim cannot be a terrorist -- and said it is impossible for a Muslim who has fully perceived and digested Islam become a terrorist and that real Muslims would never intentionally commit an act of terror and a terrorist cannot be considered a real Muslim.

“Can't a terrorist come out of Muslims?” Gülen asked. “There could be [one] but they would lose characteristics of a Muslim; they cannot be called a healthy Muslim,” Gülen said in response to his own question.He said even a war has its own rules and that one cannot fight against those who don't fight. Whenever the Prophet Muhammad prepared his troops for a defensive war, Gülen said, he ordered them not to do anything to those who took refuge in houses of worship, or to women and children.He said it is impossible to reconcile the rules of the Prophet Muhammad with the acts of terrorists.

Video - GOP lawmaker: US Muslim leaders 'complicit' in terrorist attacks.

GOP lawmaker: US Muslim leaders 'complicit' in terrorist attacks.(TheHill).By Pete Kasperowicz.

Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) on Tuesday said the failure of Muslim leaders to repudiate acts of terrorism done in the name of Islam makes them "potentially complicit" in these attacks.

"When the most devastating terrorist attacks on America in the last 20 years come overwhelmingly from people of a single faith and are performed in the name of that faith, a special obligation falls on those that are the leaders of that faith," Pompeo said on the House floor.
"Instead of responding, silence has made these Islamic leaders across America potentially complicit in these acts, and more importantly still, in those that may well follow."
Pompeo said a religion that claims to be one of peace must "reject violence that is perpetrated in its name." However, he said that while many Muslims oppose terrorist attacks against the U.S., many mosques and many Muslim leaders across the country are not taking a stand on terrorist violence.

"[T]he silence in the face of extremism coming from the best-funded Islamic advocacy organizations and many mosques across America is absolutely deafening," he said. "It casts down upon the commitment to peace by adherents to the Muslim faith."

He said that in cases where extreme Christians or Jews have used their religion to justify violence, leaders of these religions have taken stands against these justifications. 

"Just as these religious leaders have called out those who have killed and acted brutally in the name of their faith, so too must Muslim religious leaders refute terrorist theology," he said.

Pompeo said Muslim leaders must state that there is no justification for terrorism, and must denounce radical Muslim clerics who seek to justify terrorism. He also called on these leaders to refute the idea that there is justification for violence that can be found in the Quran.

"Modern Imams must strive to ensure that no Muslim finds solace for terrorism in the Quran," he said. "They must cite the Quran as evidence that the murder of innocents is not permitted by good, believing Muslims, and must immediately refute all claims to the contrary."Hmmmm......Hear, Hear!Read the full story here.

Video - Woolwich soldier killer! Machete Killer talks on camera calmly!

Live updates here from BBC - Incident now being treated by the government as a suspected Islamic terrorist attack, says the BBC's Nick Robinson

Update: Officials are calling it an Islamist terror attack.

Prime Minister David Cameron said the attack was "truly shocking" and called for an emergency meeting of security officials.

"Those meetings are not convened lightly," writes BBC Home Affairs Correspondent Dominic Casciani. "The fact is that all available accounts point towards this being a terrorist incident carried out by someone inspired by al-Qaeda's jihadist ideology. If that's the case it would be the first such incident leading to a death of someone other than the perpetrator since the London suicide bombings of 2005."

Writer Douglas Murray likens the attack to other Islamist murders, including the killing of Dutch film-maker Theo Van Gogh. "Over recent years, those who have warned that such attacks would come here have been attacked as 'racists', 'fascists' and — most commonly — 'Islamophobes,' Murray writes. "A refusal to recognise the actual threat (a growingly radicalised Islam) has dominated most of our media and nearly all our political class.

"Watching this roll out has made me — and most other ordinary people — feel sick. It should always have been obvious where such idiocy and denial would lead. It leads to Woolwich. It leads to a British soldier being decapitated in our capital city in broad daylight."

HT: InfidelBloggers.Several witnesses described seeing a "beheading" while another described seeing a man wearing a Help for Heroes T-shirt being attacked with a machete-style knife and dumped in a south east London street. Woolwich and Greenwich MP NickRaynsford said it was his understanding that one person, a serving soldier, was dead and his two alleged killers were taken to hospital.

London Ambulance Service confirmed a man was found dead at the scene, while two other men were taken to hospital, one of them in a serious condition.

One witness, identified as James, said he and his partner saw two black men attack a young man aged around 20 in a Help for Heroes T-shirt with kitchen knives like he was "a piece of meat".

"They were hacking at this poor guy, literally," he told LBC radio."They were hacking at him, chopping him, cutting him."Fighting back tears, he added: "These two guys were crazed.

"They were just animals. They dragged him from the pavement and dumped his body in the middle of the road and left his body there."

He said that after the "horrendous" attack, the two men, in their 20s, just stood around, waving knives and a gun, even asking people nearby to take pictures of them "as if they wanted to be on TV or something".

"They were oblivious to anything, they were more worried about having their photo taken, running up and down the road," he said. "They had no intention of running off or leaving or anything.

"In my opinion, they were waiting for the police to arrive to be shot by the police. That's the only thing I can think. "It's horrendous what they were doing to that guy."

Some "brave" women tried to shield the man on the ground from them, he added.

He also said that it was 20 minutes before armed police arrived at the scene.

"When the armed police came flying around the corner, the man with the beanie hat, the tall guy, he charged at the police vehicle," he said.

"A shot was fired by the other guy with the gun.

"Six shots were fired, both men went down and we now know they are dead as well."

London Air Ambulance confirmed that one patient was airlifted from the scene, while another was taken away by road ambulance. Mr Raynsford said he had spoken to both borough commander Richard Wood and Lieutenant Colonel Bob Christopher at Woolwich Barracks.

He said: "The incident occurred early afternoon. One individual is dead, two others are seriously injured and in hospital. "The circumstances causing the incident are not yet clear. It's been suggested it was the product of a road traffic accident, but that's pure speculation.Read the full story here.

Eyewitness: Twitter user Boya Dee wrote that the suspects tried to attack police officers after hacking at a man with a machete

Salafists attack residence of Iranian charge d'affaires in Cairo.

Salafists attack residence of Iranian charge d'affaires in Cairo.(AO).Dozens of protesters attempted to storm the residence of the Iranian chargé d'affaires in Cairo on Friday. The protesters, mostly Salafists, threw stones at the building and daubed offensive slogans on the outer wall.

They chanted against Iran, Shias and the Muslim Brotherhood and in support of the Syrian opposition.

"Let all the Muslim Brothers hear, we will not accept relations between Egypt and Iran," the protesters chanted. "Iranian ambassador, Egypt will not be Shia, Egypt is a Sunni country" and "Egypt and Syria are one hand."

The protesters carried banners saying "No to Shias in Egypt."

A number of journalists and photographers were assaulted during the protest.

Security forces dispersed the protesters with tear gas after a man tried to hang the Syrian independence flag on the gate of the residence.

"There were around 40 to 50 protesters in front of the residence. They were mostly Syrians from the opposition and they had the Syrian opposition flag," Mogabati Amani, Iranian charge d' affaires in Cairo told Ahram Online.

"These people are dangerous for Egyptian security because they are serving foreign interests," he said. "We know very well that the enemies of Egyptian-Iranian relations want to harm Egypt."

Amani said talks were underway with the foreign ministry to ensure such "actions will not be repeated again."
"Such actions could be harmful to the relations between the two countries, " stressed Amani.

Eyewitnesses said most of the protesters were Egyptian Salafists.

Salafists have been holding lectures across the country in recent weeks to warn against the spread Iranian Shiism to Egypt. Tourism between Iran and Egypt has recently resumed for the first time in three decades.Hmmmm.......Islam: 'The Religion of Peace'.Read the full story here.

Video - Islamist Palestinian Leaders Warn Obama Not to Visit Al-Aqsa Mosque: He Will Be Pelted with Shoes and Stones.

Islamist Palestinian Leaders Warn Obama Not to Visit Al-Aqsa Mosque: He Will Be Pelted with Shoes and Stones.

Following are excerpts from statements by various Islamist Palestinian leaders prior to U.S. President Obama’s visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories. The statements were made on Al-Aqsa TV on March 8, 2013, and on the Al-Jazeera network on March 8, 2013:

Al-Aqsa TV, March 8, 2013:

Khaled Al-Batsh, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader: I call upon our people in Jerusalem... If Obama enters [the Al-Aqsa Mosque] with Israeli guards, they should confront him and prevent him from entering. They should pelt him with shoes and with the sacred stones of Jerusalem. You must not allow him to legitimize the occupation, by entering under the protection of the Zionists.

[...]

Hamas spokesman Mushir Al-Masri: We warn against the politicization of US President Obama’s visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque. We stress that a visit by Obama to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, under the authority and influence of the occupation, will constitute a declaration of war on our Arab and Islamic nation. This will be a provocation against the sensibilities of the Islamic nation. We call upon Obama to refrain from visiting the Al-Aqsa Mosque, under the influence and authority of the occupation, because this mosque, and Jerusalem, are owned by the Palestinian people alone.

[...]

Al-Jazeera Network, March 11, 2013:

Raed Sallah, Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel: When Obama enters occupied Jerusalem, the message is clear: a false legitimization of the sovereignty of the Israeli occupation in Jerusalem, and if Obama takes the more heinous act of entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque, he will be giving false legitimacy to Israeli sovereignty over the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

[...]

Such a visit is extremely dangerous. If it takes place, we will consider it a declaration of hostility against the Muslim nation, the Arab world, and the Palestinian people.

[...]

We expect a show of anger and support for our right over Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which will emphasize to Obama and the White House that such a visit will cross all the red lines, and will constitute a declaration of hostility, which will affect every Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian worldwide.Source: Memri.

A picture tells a thousand words - How Judaism and Islam 'mix' snow in Jerusalem.

A picture tells a thousand words - How Judaism and Islam 'mix' snow in Jerusalem.

While Jewish children in Jerusalem are building snowmen and having friendly snowball fights, The Arabs, on the holiest site to Judaism, and a site the Arabs claim is holy to them too, are building symbols of hate, M-75 missiles out of snow, to show what they want to do to Israel. The M-75 is the Gazan long-range missile that targeted Jerusalem and Tel Aviv during the “Pillar of Defense” operation. HT: IsraelMatzav for the 'TempleMount' picture.

At least 7 killed in attack on Shiite procession in Pakistan.

At least 7 killed in attack on Shiite procession in Pakistan.(AA).A roadside bomb killed at least seven people near a Shiite procession in Pakistan on Saturday, police said, while security forces are on high alert over fears of large-scale sectarian attacks on the minority sect across the country. Pakistan, a nuclear-armed U.S. ally, is suspending phone coverage in many cities this weekend, an important one in the Shi'ite Muslim calendar, after a series of bomb attacks on Shiites triggered by mobile phones. Hardline Sunnis have threatened more attacks as the Shiite mourning month of Muharram comes to a climax. More than a dozen people have already been killed this week observing Muharram. Saturday's attack occurred in the city of Dera Ismail Khan in Pakistan's northwest, a stronghold of al-Qaeda-linked Sunni militant groups who regard Shiites as non-Muslims and have stepped up sectarian attacks in a bid to destabilize Pakistan.
Four children were among those killed by a 8-10 kg bomb set off by a television remote control device because cellphones were not operational, police said. Pakistani television stations showed footage of children in hospital beds, who were among 17 wounded. A suicide bomber killed 23 people and wounded 62 others at a Shiite procession in Rawalpindi on Thursday, the deadliest bombing in Pakistan for five months.
Intelligence information indicates more attacks have been planned for the coming days in the capital city of Islamabad, Karachi and Quetta. Mobile phone service will be suspended for hours in the three cities and dozens of others over the weekend. Muharram marks the anniversary of the Battle of Karbala, where the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed and his family members were killed. Ashura falls this year on Sunday and has been a magnet for sectarian attacks with rights groups heavily criticizing the government for failing to stop extremist violence. Shiites account for around 20 percent of Sunni-dominated Pakistan's 167 million population. Nationwide sectarian violence between militants from the two communities is estimated to have killed more than 4,000 people since the late 1990s. The schism between Sunnis and Shiites developed after the Prophet Muhammad died in 632 when his followers could not agree on a successor. Sunnis recognize the first four caliphs as his rightful successors. The Shiites believe the prophet named his son-in-law Ali. Emotions over the issue are highly potent in modern times, pushing some countries, including Iraq five years ago, to the brink of civil war.Read the full story here.

Iran Test-Fires Highly Advanced home-made Ra'd Air Defense Shield.

Iran Test-Fires Highly Advanced home-made Ra'd Air Defense Shield.(Fars).A report aired by Iran's state-run TV on Monday evening showed footages of the test-fire during a military exercise by the IRGC Aerospace force. The footages showed that the missiles, Ta'er (bird), fired by the Ra'd defense system hit a flying target and destroyed it completely. The IRGC displayed the highly advanced air defense shield during military parades in Tehran on Friday. According to IRGC Air Defense Unit, the highly-advanced home-made Ra'd (Thunder) air defense system is equipped with 'Taer' (Bird) missiles, which can trace and hit targets 50km in distance and 75,000f in altitude. Following the parades, Commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh told FNA that the Ra'd air defense system has been developed to target aggressive US planes. "The system has been built in a bid to confront US aircraft and can hit targets 50km in distance and 75,000 feet in altitude," Hajizadeh said. The production and use of the system can boost Iran's air-defense capabilities in various fields, officials said earlier this month. IRGC Commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari had informed last week that his forces had started the production of the Ra'd system. "The Ra'd air-defense system, which is more advanced than the Buckeye system has recently been developed and is now being mass-produced," Jafari told reporters in a press conference last Sunday. "Ra'd is ranked as a mid-range radar system," the General said, and continued, "The air-defense system will boost the Islamic Republic's ability to counter aerial threats." Read the full story here.

Iran - Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Announces Production of Drone with Missile Capability

Iran - Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Announces Production of Drone with Missile Capability.(Fars). Speaking at a press conference here in Tehran on Sunday, Jafari pointed to Iran's latest achievements in area of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) production, and stated, "Shahed 129 drone presents the IRGC's latest advancement in this field. With its 24-hour-long non-stop flight capability, the drone can accomplish good missions in reconnaissance and combat fields."
The commander added that Shahed 129 can hit and destroy targets from a far distance with its Sadid (Iron-Strong) missiles. Earlier this month, a senior Iranian defense official announced that Iran plans to equip its military drones with missile capabilities. "We observed the operation of Iran's combat Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAVs) in the recent wargames conducted by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and we plan to mount missile systems onto these drones," Deputy Defense Minister for Industrial and Research Mohammad Eslami told FNA at the time. Early in July, the IRGC Aerospace Force conducted three days of massive missile drills, codenamed Payambar-e Azam 7 (The Great Prophet 7). In March 2012, Iranian experts managed to produce a new type of drone which is capable of carrying out military and border patrol missions. The new remote-controlled aircraft, called Shaparak (Butterfly), has a maximum operational radius of 50 kilometers (31 miles), and a maximum flight ceiling of 15,000 feet (4,572 meters), Reza Danandeh Hakamabad, the aeronautics engineer in charge of the project, said at the time. The aircraft is capable of three and half hours of non-stop flying, and can carry an 8-kilogram (17-pound) payload. Iran successfully tested a home-made radar-evading UAV with bombing capabilities in June 2009. In February 2011, Iran inaugurated the production line of two home-made UAVs with bombing and reconnaissance capabilities. The two hi-tech drones named 'Ra'd' (Thunder) and 'Nazir' (Harbinger) are capable of conducting long-range reconnaissance, patrolling, assault and bombing missions with high precision. Ra'd which is a UAV of choice for assault and bombing missions has the capability to destroy the specified targets with high pinpoint precision. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in August 2010 unveiled the country's first home-made combat Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The combat drone, named Karrar, was unveiled in a special ceremony in Tehran marking the national 'Day of Defense Industry'. The Karrar UAV is capable of carrying a military payload to carry out bombing missions against ground targets. It is also capable of flying long distances at a very high speed. Read the full story here.

Seven killed as anti-Islam film protests rage in Tunisia, Sudan and Lebanon.

                                                "Chickens Come Home To Roast"

                             "AIRFORCE ONE can't manage a phone call to Egypt?"

Seven killed as anti-Islam film protests rage in Tunisia, Sudan and Lebanon.(AA).Protests against an anti-Islam film produced in the United States have intensified in Tunisia and Sudan and spread in Lebanon, with three Tunisians, three Sudanese and one Lebanese killed as clashes between demonstrators and police ensued on Friday.
Three people were killed on Friday and another 28 wounded in clashes at the U.S. embassy in Tunis, which was stormed by an angry mob protesting over
“Innocence of Muslims,” a film mocking Islam, an official media said, citing the health ministry.
Two of the injured were in a critical condition, the same source said, without giving any details about the victims.
Police fired tear gas and warning shots as more than 1,000 stone-throwing protesters gathered on Friday outside the U.S. embassy in a Tunis suburb to denounce the film, an AFP journalist reported.
A thick black plume of smoke was seen rising from the car park of the embassy, with a policeman telling AFP that some demonstrators had thrown petrol bombs.The security forces intervened when hardline Salafis among the demonstrators outside the U.S. mission started hurling rocks, the journalist said.
The police responded with a sustained volley of tear gas, before loud bursts of gunfire rang out in the streets around the embassy, as the protesters tried to regroup.
The exact nature of the weapons being fired was not immediately clear, but police often use rubber bullets at demonstrations that turn violent.“They are firing to prevent other groups from coming,” one protester told AFP.
Just minutes before the clashes broke out, the protesters had been shouting anti-U.S. slogans including: “Obama! Obama! We are all Osama!” in reference to Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden, who was killed by U.S. special forces last year.
They also hurled insults at the police, accusing them of "protecting" those who denigrate Islam.
The majority of the protesters appeared to be hardline Salafis, waving the black Islamist flag.Protesters also set fire to the American School in Tunis, a Reuters reporter said.The school was closed on Friday.

Earlier, security was boosted around the embassy 10 kilometers (six miles) north of the city center, with a heavy deployment of riot police and soldiers and extra barbed wire and checkpoints on nearby roads.
Tunisian imams, at mosques in the capital, had earlier called for protests outside the embassy to denounce a film mocking Islam posted on the Internet that has sparked anger across the Islamic world.

Three Sudanese protesters were killed near U.S. embassy in Khartoum, and another in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli. 

Sudanese protesters who clambered over the wall of the U.S. embassy in Khartoum were ejected before they got far into the compound, a U.S. embassy spokesman said.
“They were all expelled. They didn’t get far,” the spokesman said when asked about the protesters and how far into the grounds they had reached. He said no embassy staff were injured in the incident.
Guards on the roof of the U.S. embassy in Sudan’s capital fired warning shots Friday as a security perimeter was breached and dozens of Islamic flag-waving protesters scaled an outer wall, an AFP reporter said.
A police vehicle near the embassy was also torched as hundreds of demonstrators broke through an outer security cordon after one protester was hit by a police vehicle and killed, a medic and the AFP reporter said.Before the U.S embassy attack, demonstrators on Friday stormed the German embassy in Khartoum and raised an Islamic flag above the mission during a protest against the film, a Reuters witness said.

A Reuters reporter saw protesters enter the embassy building in central Khartoum, smash windows and start a fire in front of the main gate.
Police had earlier tried to disperse some 5,000 protesters who had surrounded the German and nearby British embassy by firing volleys of teargas but no officers could be seen at the front gate after the storming.
The U.S. missions in all of Yemen, Egypt and Tunisia were targeted as the movie was produced in the United States by an Israeli-American and it was not immediately clear why European missions were being attacked in Sudan.
The Germany foreign minister meanwhile said that Sudan embassy staff were safe.
Meanwhile, in Tripoli, one person was killed and 25 others were wounded after clashes between police and angry protesters against the film.
A crowd of 300 Islamists attacked and set fire to a KFC restaurant in Tripoli on Friday, an AFP correspondent said.Meanwhile, a group of Bedouin broke through the fence of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) compound in the Sinai and set fire to an observation tower, a security official said.
In the ensuing clashes two Colombians and an Egyptian were injured, he said, adding that the extent of their injuries was not immediately clear.
The protesters also set fire to a car inside the compound which lies in the town of Al-Goura, 10 kilometers (around six miles) from the Gaza Strip.
And in Iraq, protesters burned U.S. and Israeli flags as thousands of people demonstrated for a second day Friday in cities and towns across Iraq the film.
In the biggest protest, thousands of people turned out in the southern port city of Basra, carrying Iraqi flags and shouting slogans including: “There is no freedom by abuses to the feelings of two billion Muslims.”
The protesters burned American and Israeli flags, an AFP correspondent said.Eighty-six people were arrested on Friday after a group of several hundred Muslim protesters threw stones and smashed windows at the U.S. consulate in the Indian city of Chennai, police said.
“They smashed the window panes, surveillance camera and tried to scale over the compound wall, but we dispersed them while exercising restraint,” a senior police officer said on condition of anonymity. “We made 86 arrests.”Egypt -  Following prayers, Mazhar Shaheen, known as the "revolution's imam," called on demonstrators to maintain the protests' peaceful nature and steer clear of the nearby US embassy. He also urged protesters to stage a sit-in in the square in the event that they had any outstanding demands.
Shaheen went on to warn that the offensive film served to promote sectarian tension between Egypt's Muslim and Christian communities. "If you love the Prophet, stay peaceful," Shaheen told the crowd.
Some demonstrators waved black flags bearing the Islamic statement of faith, "There is no God but Allah." Many of the protesters, who appeared to belong to Salafists groups, demanded a robust reaction to the film.
"There must be a real boycott of America on all levels, economic and cultural," one Salafist sheikh, who had campaigned for Salafist candidate Hazem Abu-Ismail in Egypt's recent presidential elections, told Ahram Online.
The Muslim Brotherhood, along with various Salafists groups, had called for peaceful mass protests on Friday outside mosques across Egypt to protest the film.
Following midday prayers, scores more demonstrators could be seen entering the square to join the protest.Early Friday afternoon, limited clashes re-ignited outside the embassy grounds between police and hundreds of protesters. Both sides pelted each other with stones while police forces lobbed teargas canisters into the crowd.
Similar clashes broke out in front of the nearby Semiramis InterContinental Hotel, where police vans deployed in an effort to force protesters back towards Tahrir Square.
Earlier in the morning, Egyptian army personnel had begun constructing a wall around the embassy to protect it from angry protesters.
On Wednesday, Mr. Obama, who is campaigning, called staff members at the White House from Air Force One to arrange a telephone call to Mr. Morsi, a senior administration official said.
Hmmmm......"AIRFORCE ONE can't manage a phone call to Egypt?"Read the full story here, more here.

Anti-Islam Film: Prophet is untouchable red line, 'Muslim Brotherhood' President Morsi.

Anti-Islam Film: Prophet is untouchable red line, 'Muslim Brotherhood' President Morsi.(AnsaMed).CAIRO, SEPTEMBER 13 – The Prophet ‘is a red line nobody can touch’, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was quoted as saying by Egypt’s Mena news agency comments on protests across Egypt and Libya and a film on the Prophet slammed as blasphemous. The Prophet ‘is a red line for all Muslims and we refuse any attack’, said the president. ”We will sacrifice with our soul and heart” Morsi also said, citing a Muslim profession of faith. The Egyptian president, who had a phone conversation with US President Barack Obama before talks with European leaders and then a trip to Rome this afternoon, stressed his condemnation of ‘all attempts to attack the Profet and the sacred principles of Islam’. .
Meanwhile he also assured Egyptian security forces will do everything in their power to protect foreigners in the country.

Morsi asked also his US counterpart Barack Obama to ”take dissuasive measures against those trying to demolish relations with the US”;. Morsi also expressed his condolences for the death of the US ambassador in Libya in statements to Egypt’s state television.''We don't attack anyone and do not accept any aggression against our sacred principles'' Morsi told state television after phone talks with Obama.Hmmmm......The persistence of Muslims in the past to pass legislation, both internationally and locally, is the reason why they orchestrated this demonstration in which an American was killed in Libya.Hillary Clinton who is a supporter of 'Blasphemy laws in the US visited Morsi last weekend for 'talks'.Read the full story here.

Another "Bloody Friday" coming? - Pakistan tightens security for US diplomatic missions in anticipation of Friday protests.

Another "Bloody Friday" coming? - Pakistan tightens security for US diplomatic missions in anticipation of Friday protests.(Ahram).Pakistan on Thursday stepped up security measures around US diplomatic missions, following attacks on American consulates and embassies in Libya, Egypt and Yemen over an anti-Islam film. A mob stormed the US consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Tuesday, killing US ambassador Christopher Stevens and several other staff members. On Thursday a crowd stormed the American embassy complex in Yemeni capital Sanaa before being driven out by police. "We have beefed up the security for the possible threats to the US embassy," Khurram Rasheed, a senior police official responsible for diplomats' security in Islamabad, told AFP.
"We expect some protests against the embassy tomorrow and we are preparing to handle that." The US embassy in Islamabad lies inside the city's heavily-fortified diplomatic enclave, and Rasheed said the entrance would be closed and extra security forces deployed. In the eastern city of Lahore, police said they have issued an alert to protect the US consulate. "The security is already tight but we have issued an alert to be careful for any urgent situation," Abdul Ghaffar Qaisrani, senior police official responsible for security, told AFP.
"We are also gathering information (on) whether some organisations are planning to organise some protests. In that case, we will take further measures to protect the US consulate." The low-budget movie, entitled "Innocence of Muslims", which has sparked fury across the Muslim world, portrays followers of the faith as immoral and gratuitously violent. It pokes fun at the Prophet Mohammed and touches on themes of paedophilia and homosexuality, while showing him sleeping with women and talking about killing children. Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar criticised the film. "We have always promoted inter-faith harmony but desecration of any type is always condemned by Pakistan and we are very, very strongly condemning," she said when asked about her government's reaction to the disputed film. In the northwestern city of Peshawar, where anti-US sentiments run high and a car bomb attack on a US consulate vehicle killed two people on September 3, authorities said they were "cautious" about the developing situation. The patrolling of police around the consulate in the southern port city Karachi was also stepped up. Ties between Islamabad and Washington have been rocky for years, and are only just beginning to pick up after nosediving last year following the secret raid that killed Osama bin Laden and an air raid that accidentally killed 24 Pakistani troops.Read the full story here.

Mukhtar Ashri: Muslim Brotherhood and the Freedom and Justice Party Reject Violence

Mukhtar Ashri: Muslim Brotherhood and the Freedom and Justice Party Reject Violence.(IW).Mukhtar Ashri, Chairman of the Legal Committee of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), expressed surprise at the move by the Egyptian Public Prosecutor Justice Abdel-Meguid to investigate a complaint accusing Dr. Mohamed Morsi, President of the Republic; Dr. Mohamed Badie, Chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood; Al-Shater; Essam El-Erian; Mohamed Saad Katatni; and Mohamed Beltagy, Brotherhood leaders; as well as all members of the Muslim Brotherhood, of incitement to violence, assaulting protesters outside the Presidential Palace, circulating rumors and violating the sanctity of Egyptian blood. The State Security attorney general has been tasked with investigating the claims.

In a statement to Ikhwanweb, Ashri said: "Everyone has the right to file a formal complaint. This is guaranteed for all. But when the allegations are completely unfounded, when they are nothing but a pack of false claims, such action is totally unacceptable. These falsehoods will soon be proven for what they are".

Regarding claims – in the same complaint – of assaults against journalists outside Egypt’s Media City in Cairo, Ashri said: "The leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood have already stated that the group had absolutely nothing to do with these incidents.

"We are advocates of peace and piety, and we seek justice, freedom and dignity for all without distinction. There simply is no possibility at all of the Brotherhood resorting to any form of violence. We will not tolerate acts of violence; and we will not take part in any acts of violence; and we will certainly not support acts of violence in any way whatsoever.

"What’s happening on the scene now is that certain individuals are spreading rumors intended to distract Egyptians’ attention and focus away from the President’s concrete steps and bold action to establish a civil state and to protect democracy and its objectives."Read the full story here.

Egypt - Muslim Brotherhood 'Crucifies' Opponents, Attacks Secular Media.

Egypt - Muslim Brotherhood 'Crucifies' Opponents, Attacks Secular Media.(TIP).By Raymond Ibrahim.Last week in Egypt, when Muslim Brotherhood supporters terrorized the secular media, several Arabic websites—including Arab News, Al Khabar News, Dostor Watany, and Egypt Now—reported that people were being "crucified." The relevant excerpt follows in translation:

A Sky News Arabic correspondent in Cairo confirmed that protestors belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood crucified those opposing Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi naked on trees in front of the presidential palace while abusing others. Likewise, Muslim Brotherhood supporters locked the doors of the media production facilities of 6-October [a major media region in Cairo], where they proceeded to attack several popular journalists.

Last Wednesday, August 8, "thousands of the Muslim Brotherhood's supporters" attacked 6-October's media facilities, beat Khaled Salah—chief editor of the privately-owned and secular Youm 7 newspaper—prevented Yusif al-Hassani, an On TV broadcaster, from entering the building, and generally "terrorized the employees."
El Balad adds that the supporters of Tawfik Okasha, another vocal critic of President Morsi—the one who widely disseminated the graphic video of a Muslim apostate being slaughtered to cries of "Allahu Akbar"—gathered around the presidential palace, only to be surrounded by Brotherhood supporters, who "attacked them with sticks, knives, and Molotov cocktails, crucifying some of them on trees, leading to the deaths of two and the wounding of dozens."
Far from condemning these terrorists, Al Azhar, Egypt's most authoritative Islamic institution, has just issued a fatwa calling for more violence and oppression, saying that "fighting participants in anti-Muslim Brotherhood demonstrations planned for 24 August is a religious obligation."

In reality, there is little reason to doubt this crucifixion story. Militant Muslims crucifying their opponents is a regular feature of the Islamic world—recent cases coming from the Ivory Coast, where two Christian brothers were crucified, similarly by supporters of a Muslim president who ousted a Christian; Indonesia, where Islamic separatists crucified a fellow Muslim for being a military informant; and in Iraq, where Muslim militants crucified Christian children.
Moreover, those alleged to have been crucified in Egypt certainly fit the Koran's description of who deserves to be crucified. According to Allah, "The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this: that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off…" (Koran 5:33).
In short, under the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the bottle has been uncorked and the Islamic Genie set loose. Expect much worse to come.Hmmm......don't expect Pres Obama to speak up against the Muslim Brotherhood.Read the full story here.

Video - Egyptian Cleric Hashem Islam Issues Fatwa Permitting the Killing of Anti-Morsi Demonstrators.

Egyptian Cleric Hashem Islam Issues Fatwa Permitting the Killing of Anti-Morsi Demonstrators.

Following are excerpts from a TV show, posted on the Internet on August 14, 2012, in which Egyptian cleric Hashem Islam, a member of the Al-Azhar Fatwa Committee, issues a fatwa against potential demonstrators on August 24, and from a later TV show, which aired on Dream 1 TV on August 15.


The Internet, August 14, 2012:


Hashem Islam: The revolution planned for August 24 is a par excellence revolution of kharijite apostasy against democracy and freedom. I am currently working on a relevant fatwa.

The legitimate president is Dr. Mohamed Morsi, and anyone who goes out [to protest] on August 24 will be revolution against the January 25 Revolution, and will be committing the crimes of hiraba and high treason against the country, against Allah, against his messenger, and against the believers.


Therefore, I convey the following fatwa to the Egyptian people: Confront these people, and if they fight you, fight them. Oh people of Egypt, confront these people, and if they fight you, fight them. If some of you are killed by them, you will go to Paradise, and if you kill them, no "blood money" will be warranted, because their killing is permissible. Allah's mercy and blessings upon you.


Uproar in the audience


Audience member: I beg your pardon, I'm not planning to demonstrate on August 24, but you cannot say such things...

Another audience member: He has no right to do this. A fatwa must come from the Mufti. Not just anybody can issue a fatwa, pitting the Egyptians one against the other. The revolution was waged in order to have more freedom, not more strife. Source: Memri.