Lecturer Suspended for Defending Innocent Muslim Students

Rod Thornton, an expert in counter-insurgency at Nottingham University, was suspended on Wednesday for criticising the University's treatment of a Muslim student and Muslim employee. He has accused the university of passing "erroneous evidence" to police and attempting to discredit a student.

Readers may recall these two Muslims were Rizwan Sabir, a masters student, and Hicham Yezza, an ex-student and then an employee at the University, who in 2008 were arrested for possessing an Al Qaida manual.

University officials called in the police after a colleague noticed the document on Yezza's computer. Yezza and his friend, Rizwaan Sabir, were held for six days, despite Sabir's tutors giving statements within two days that the document was directly relevant to his research, not to mention that it was freely available at the University's library, as well as on a US Government website.

They were released without charge, however the consequences are still lasting.

Thornton, who is also a former soldier, wrote his paper for the British International Studies Association (Bisa), in which he hoped to explore the issues of how young Muslims can become so easily tarred with the brush of terrorism; but Bisa has now taken the paper off their website.

In the paper, Thornton wrote:

Despite being made aware of the mistakes it had made, the university not only refused to apologise to the two arrested men, but it also began to resort to defensive measures that attempted to discredit the names both of the two accused and of innocent university employees.



Untruth piled on untruth until a point was reached where the Home Office itself farcically came to advertise the case as 'a major Islamist plot' ... Many lessons can be learned from what happened at the University of Nottingham.



This incident is an indication of the way in which, in the United Kingdom of today, young Muslim men can become so easily tarred with the brush of being 'terrorists'.

He says the university's administration notified police, but had never given any indication they they had carried out "even the simplest of internet checks or ... [sought] either advice or guidance from elsewhere."

In his paper, Thornton describes how the concerns he was raising led him to get disciplinary action against himself, how he tried to get the Vice-Chancellor to investigate some of the issues he was raising, however, was told by him that he was making "un warranted allegations? and there began yet more "investigations? into Thornton's behaviour. Now he has been suspended.

This case severely questions the amount of academic freedom at universities and freedom of speech, which seem to be slowly eroding; but more worryingly, for a lecturer to be suspended for trying to get two Muslim students justice, also alludes that this kind of discriminatory treatment of Muslims is acceptable.

It is now up to Muslim students to help this man, after he has put his job on the line for justice. Join the discussion on MPACUK Facebook.

Read more: http://www.mpacuk.org/story/090511/lecturer-suspended-defending-innocent-muslim-students.html#ixzz1LulLAwXK


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Saudi royals loot national wealth

Reports show that members of the Saudi royal family have appropriated billions of dollars of the country's national wealth, including oil revenues, for their personal use.

According a Reuters report, Saudi royals took some $2 billion of the national income in 1996, while they as well as others closely associated with Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz, now spend $10 billion of the country's earnings annually for personal expenses.

Also, it has already been revealed that revenues from the sale of one million barrels of oil per day go to only five or six Saudi princes.

Documents show the better part of national spending in Saudi Arabia over the past two decades has been allocated to the royal family.

One such document reads that Saudi royals, who number in the thousands, are known to possess great wealth and spend lavishly.

Monthly salaries given to the members of the royal family range from $800 a month for the most junior members to $270,000 per month for senior royals, reports Reuters. The figures do not include the expenses for wedding ceremonies and building palaces.

The same report suggests that five percent of Saudi Arabia's $40 billion overall budget for 1996, that is $2 billion, was earmarked for salaries of the royal family.

This comes as many senior officials and royals in Saudi Arabia have gone into business, pocketing upwards of $10 billion dollars besides their regular salaries.

Some Saudi royals have even confiscated public land to sell to the Saudi government.

There are four main opposition groups in Saudi Arabia. There are the Hijaz tribes that have complained the Al-Saud family has even named the country after itself, excluding other tribes and groups from the government. Then there are the reformist technocrats and the youth, who would like to see a constitution as well as elections incorporated into the Saudi system of monarchy.

The thrid group that opposes the monarchy are mainly the reformist Salafis, and the fourth major group are the Shias, who mainly occupy the oil-rich eastern part of the country but are the most oppressed in the country.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/168648.html

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Bahraini protesters surround palace

Tens of thousands of people in Bahrain have surrounded the Safriyah Palace to demand an end to the monarchy.
Nurses and doctors are standing by for any possible violence. This is the latest in a wave of anti-government protests against the rule of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, The Associated Press reported.

The protest on Saturday comes a day after police -- with the help of pro-government vigilantes -- used teargas against mostly Shia, anti-government protesters. Over 700 people were injured as they marched towards the Royal Court in the capital Manama.

Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited the capital after attending a NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels. Gates met with King Hamad and Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa on Saturday to reassure the monarchy of the United States' full support.

"I told both the king and the crown prince that across the region I did not believe there could be a return to the status quo," Gates said. "Obviously, leading reform and being responsive is the way we would like to see this unfold," he added.

The visit comes two weeks after the highest-ranking officer in the US military, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, stopped in Manama, which is home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet.

Bahrainis have been staging protests since mid-February, demanding the resignation of King Hamad and constitutional reforms to the Sunni-led government. They also want free and fair elections as well as the release of political prisoners.

LF/PKH/MMN

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/169571.html

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Islamic history shows thousands of Muslim Women teachings hadith to the Muslim Ummah

There have been over 8,000 Muslim women who have narrated and taught the hadiths in Islamic history, an Islamic scholar said Tuesday.

"In addition to transmitting hadiths, women can give fatwa (edicts) too," said Dr Mohammad Akram Nadwi at a public lecture at the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS) that shed the popular belief that such activities were strictly in the male domain.

"The Prophet Muhammad left an ummah (muslim community) where men and women were treated equally," he added, citing as examples several Muslim women who had taught and narrated the Sahih al-Bukhari in mosques and to several caliphs.

Dr Nadwi, who was speaking on the Role of Women in the Hadith Movement, is currently revising his 40-volume biographical dictionary of women narrators and scholars of the hadiths, that is, the reports of the sayings or actions of the Prophet or his companions, together with the tradition of their chain of transmission - Source

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Muslim woman told to remove face veil during job interview

An Australian Muslim woman has complained that she was told to remove her face veil during a job interview at a Northern Territory hospital in Darwin.

According to reports, a doctor at Royal Darwin Hospital asked the young woman to remove her veil during an administration job interview.

The woman, however, refused to do so, and filed an official complaint.

The Northern Territory Anti-Discrimination Commission officers have launched an investigation into the matter.

Meanwhile, Northern Territory Islamic Society President, Adil Jamil, said that it was considered “offensive” to ask a woman to take off her hijab.

“It's against their religious beliefs. It can seriously hurt their inner self,” The Herald Sun quoted Jamil, as saying.

“Under traditional Islamic view, a woman cannot show her face to any man except her husband and male relatives,” he added.

He further said that there were about 2000 Muslims in the territory, but less than two percent wore a veil.

“They see it as reinforcing their religious beliefs and inner satisfaction,” Jamil said.

The case comes at a time when several western countries are following France’s lead in banning the wearing of the hijab in public. Source

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Schools to Ban Face Veil

It says efforts must be made to accommodate religious clothing, but stresses the importance of teachers and pupils being able to make eye contact.

It comes after a girl failed in a legal bid to overturn her school's niqab ban.

Islamic groups have been divided in their response - some "shocked" and others welcoming the guidance.
Headteachers' leaders have applauded the decision, saying that it would provide "clarity" and "reassurance" for schools.
It's not right that schools should have to be arguing this out case by case

The issue of religious dress has become an increasingly complicated one for schools in recent years, with a handful of high profile court cases over the right to wear a full veil.

A court victory by a Buckinghamshire school (which cannot be named for legal reasons) has prompted the updated guidance.

The school argued the veil made communication between teachers and pupils difficult and thus hampered learning.

Teachers needed to be able to tell if a pupil was enthusiastic, paying attention or even distressed but full-face veils prevented this, it said.

This position was upheld by the High Court - which refused to grant a judicial review - and is expected to form a key part of the guidance.

Source



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The new AMERICAN Quran: a dangerous trick. read it and forward...

Dear All,
!!!!! Be careful with this book!!!!!! This thing has to be spread to the whole world. We must fight this nasty which was created by Christians!!!
* DO NOT let them to convert many more MUSLIM to CHRISTIANITY , Na'udzubillahimindzalik....
* DO NOT JUST KEEP this mail in your mailbox. FORWARD TO ALL OUR MUSLIMS..
The things they do to lead Muslims astray is unbelievable. May Allah protect us all. Let all your relatives/friends know that this book does exist and a copy of it was already sent to MUIS for action.

READ THIS AND SPREAD IT PLEASE.....!!!

Above: 'The True Furqan'

You Can't Ignore this or send it to as many muslims as u can.

The new AMERICAN Quran: a dangerous trick.
A new Quran is being distributed in Kuwait, titled 'The True Furqan'.
It is being described as the ayats of the Shaytan and Al-Furqan weekly magazine has found out that the two American printing Companies; 'Omega 2001' and 'Wine Press' are involved in the publishing of 'The True Furqan', a book which has also been titled 'The 21st Century Quran'!
It has over 366 pages and is in both the Arabic and English languages...it is being distributed to our children in Kuwait in the private English schools! The book contains 77 Surats, which include Al-Fatiha, Al-Jana and Al-Injil. Instead of Bismillah, each Surat begins with a longer vesion of this incorporating the Christian belief of the three spirits.

And this so called Quran opposes many Islamic beliefs. In one of its ayats it describes having more than one wife as fornication, divorce being non-permissible and it uses a new system for the sharing out of the will, opposing the current one. It states that Jihad is HARAAM.

This book even goes as far as attacking Allah, Subhanahu wa Tahala!

All this is poisoning our children at approx. price of US $3.

Brothers and Sisters, it is up to you whether you all want to forward this message or not!

But if this is true and you do forward it, it will benefit all those who read it.



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Once You See What Truly Happened in Gaza, It Will Change You Forever

"The message," I can report, has been received. It is a message that Israel is run by war criminals, that the lives of Palestinians mean nothing to them. Even more chilling is the pro-war message sent by the Israeli people with their votes for Netanyahu, Livni and anti-Arab racist Avigdor Lieberman.

How tragic that nation born out of the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust has become a nation that supports the slaughter of Palestinians.

Here in the U.S., Congress ignored the suffering of the Palestinians and pledged its unwavering support for the Israeli state. All but five members out of 535 voted for a resolution justifying the invasion, falsely holding Hamas solely responsible for breaking the ceasefire and praising Israel for facilitating humanitarian aid to Gaza at a time when food supplies were rotting at the closed borders.

One glimmer of hope we found among people in Gaza was the Obama administration. Many were upset that Obama did not speak out during the invasion and that peace envoy George Mitchell, on his first trip to the Middle East, did not visit Gaza or even Syria. But they felt that Mitchell was a good choice and Obama, if given the space by the American people, could play a positive role.

Who can provide that space for Obama? Who can respond to the call for justice from the Palestinian people? Who can counter AIPAC, the powerful lobby that supports Israeli aggression?

An organized, mobilized, coordinated grassroots movement is the critical counterforce, and within that movement, those who have a particularly powerful voice are American Jews. We have the beginnings of a such a counterforce within the American Jewish community. Across the United States, Jews joined marches, sit-ins, die-ins, even chained themselves to Israeli consulates in protest. Jewish groups like J Street and Brit Tzedek v'Shalom lobby for a diplomatic solution. Tikkun organizes for a Jewish spiritual renewal grounded in social justice. The Middle East Children's Alliance and Madre send humanitarian aid to Palestine. Women in Black hold compelling weekly vigils. American Jews for a Just Peace plants olive trees on the West Bank. Jewish Voice for Peace promotes divestment from corporations that profit from occupation. Jews Against the Occupation calls for an end to U.S. aid to Israel.

FULL STORY



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