Australia: first mosque ‘open day’ seeks to address prejudices

By: Michael Safi

Source: theguardian.com

Nine mosques around Australia will open their doors later this month as part of a new National Unity Day, inviting non-Muslims to take tours and ask questions of Islamic leaders to clear up “prejudices and mutual misunderstanding” in the community.

The Trews: Russell Brand – Will Obama’s Bombs Stop Beheadings? (Video)

 Reaction to President Barack Obama’s ‘destroy and degrade’ strategy address for fighting the Islamic State.

UK: Sunni and Shiite Imams address ISIS (Video)

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

By: Yasmine Hafiz

Sunni and Shiite Muslim leaders in the United Kingdom have come together to denounce the Islamic militant group ISIS in a video posted by a group called Imams Online, reports the BBC.

A statement on the Imams Online website says, “Senior British imams have come together to emphasize the importance of unity in the UK and to decree ISIS as an illegitimate, vicious group who do not represent Islam in any way.”

They hope the four-minute film will serve to counter the “digital propaganda” disseminated by ISIS, which has been noted for its heavy use of social media. Specifically, their goal is to strongly urge young Britons from traveling to Iraq and Syria to take part in the conflict. They also denounced Sunni-Shiite sectarianism, as earlier this week ISIS destroyed Shiite mosques and shrines.

“We are Muslims united against ISIS, against terrorism, against atrocity, against pain and suffering,” says Sayed Ali Rizvi, head of the Majlis Ulama-e-Shia group, in the video.

A statement from ISIS exhorted Muslims worldwide to join them upon their declaration of an Islamic Caliphate led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. “It is incumbent upon all Muslims to pledge allegiance to (him) and support him,” it said.

The Imams Online video quotes the Quran to emphasize the importance of Islamic unity despite the sectarian nature of the conflict in the Middle East. From Surah Al-Imran:

And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided. And remember the favor of Allah upon you — when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together and you became, by his favor, brothers.

“As a Sunni Muslim, I do not accept the Caliphate of ISIS, I consider ISIS as a terrorist organization,” said Maulana Shahid Raza, of Leicester Central Mosque.

Abu Muntasir, chief executive of the charity organization JIMAS, said, “Brothers and sisters, if I could tell you in one sentence about ISIS I would tell you that they are evil, they are corrupt, they are self-seeking, self-centered, vicious people. Don’t get mixed up with them.”

UK media caught stirring up extremist hatred on Muslim internet forum

By: Tom Pride

Source: http://tompride.wordpress.com/

The following comment was posted on an online chat forum for Muslims yesterday inviting responses:

Some of the other members of the forum became suspicious by the strange comment and decided to check the new member’s ISP address:

More up-to-date checks of the ISP address by other members of the forum showed the comment was posted by someone working at the Daily Mail Group (the Evening Standard used to be part of the Daily Mail Group):

The whole thread has now been deleted from the forum but it can still be viewed on Google’s webcache here.

So it seems the Daily Mail ordered one of their journalists to pose as an extremist on a Muslim forum to try to elicit comments they could use for an anti-Muslim story.

Fortunately they were busted.

In a civilized society, a national newspaper journalist trying to stir up hatred and controversy with lies and subterfuge should be so professionally shameful it would normally lead to the sack for the hack concerned and investigations into standards of journalistic accountability at the publication.