British Jihad and Islamic Supremacism Watch

Sky News reported that: "[t]he country is now at its highest threat level and means an attack is expected 'imminently'. "The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) raised the level in response to the events of the last 48 hours".

BBC News reports that the UK's national terrorism threat level has been raised to "critical", according to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. BBC News stated that "The announcement came after a meeting of the government emergencies committee Cobra, following a burning car being driven into a Glasgow airport terminal. Ministers, police and security service officials began their third meeting in three days at 1900 BST, this time with a video link to ministers in Scotland. Cobra met earlier in the day to discuss the two car bombs found in London."

Sky News reported that "During the [Cobra] meeting, chaired by Gordon Brown, ministers discussed deploying troops at UK airports to counter any further terror attacks."

ABC News notes that "[t]he last time the threat level was raised to critical in the United Kingdom was last August after a liquid bomb plot was foiled." ABC News also states: "Although the threat level "critical" is meant to indicate an attack is imminent, in practice the British appear to have reserved its use for after an attack or attempted attack has already occurred and a follow-up attack is imminent."

UK Prime Minster Gordon Brown said "The first duty of the Government is the security and safety of all the British people. So it's right to raise the levels of security at airports and crowded places. I want all British people to be vigilant and support the police. I know the British people will stand together united, resolute and strong."
-- Sky News Video of Gordon Brown statement

The Guardian reports: "Prime Minister Gordon Brown has warned that the terrorist threat to Britain is 'long-term and sustained' and said that security services and the public will have to remain 'constantly vigilant'. In his first broadcast interview since becoming PM on Wednesday, Mr Brown said it was 'clear' that the attacks in London and Glasgow over the past two days were perpetrated by people who were associated with the global Islamist terror network al Qaida."

ABC News also reports that "counter-terrorism analysts estimate that the apparently coordinated attacks in Great Britain are the work of a sleeper cell that could include as many as 20 individuals." The Sunday London Telegraph states of the efforts of counterterrorism forensics specialists in researched the scenes of the attacks in "Botched London plot leaves 'gold mine' of clues". The Daily Mail reports that "MI5 fear bombers were 'off the radar'".

The London Times reports of potential links to potential terrorists who are known to the police: "Some may be known to police and be on the run after escaping Home Office control orders. Those in the frame may be associates of the so-called Crevice gang, which planned to attack the Ministry of Sound nightclub in central London and the Bluewater shopping mall in Kent. Members of the five-man cell, who were jailed for life in April, were directed by 'core' Al-Qaeda figures after training in terror camps in Pakistan. "

The COBRA emergency group is meeting again on Sunday.

British police are searching house in sweeps in northern England and outside of Glasgow. Reuters reports that "Wearing white plastic bodysuits and face masks, police in Glasgow combed several houses near the airport, in the town of Houston, about six miles west of the city. Neighbors said two Asian men had moved into one of the searched houses, a five minute drive from the airport, about a month ago but had kept very much to themselves."

In addition, there have been the following reports of arrests from the Associated Press:
--- 2 Arrested After Car on Fire Rams Glasgow Terminal
--- Police Arrest 2 More in Connection With London, Scotland Terror Incidents -- two suspects were arrested in Cheshire - in addition to two arrested in Glasgow at airport attack -- Cheshire suspects arrested by a joint swoop by specialist officers from London and Birmingham

Sky News reports on Sunday of the arrest of a 5th suspect in Liverpool. The Manchester Evening News provided a follow-up on the Cheshire arrests and also noted that the Liverpool airport is closed.

Sources:
Sky News: UK At Highest Terror Level After Attack -- and -- Brown: 'Be United, Resolute And Strong'
BBC: UK terror threat now 'critical'
Sky News Video of Gordon Brown statement
ABC News: Brits Raise Terror Alert Level to 'Critical'
ABC News: Sleeper Terror Cell on the Loose in U.K.
AP: 2 Arrested After Car on Fire Rams Glasgow Terminal
AP: Police Arrest 2 More in Connection With London, Scotland Terror Incidents
Sky News: Fifth Terror Arrest In Nationwide Hunt -- in Liverpool
Manchester Evening News: Terror arrests on M6 -- Liverpool airport closed
CNN: Glasgow Terrorist Shouts "Allah" in Fighting Police (my title)
London Guardian: PM warns of 'sustained' terror risk
AFP: New crisis talks over terror threat
Reuters: British police comb houses after airport attack
Daily Mail: MI5 fear bombers were 'off the radar'
London Times: Police check Bluewater gang's links to attempt to bomb clubs

Posted by manager at 03:24 PM | Permalink

Sky News reports another "terror strike" in the United Kingdom today, this time in Scotland at Glasgow Airport. Sky News reports that the latest incident involving a flaming Jeep Cherokee SUV ramming Glasgow Airport terminal "is being treated as a terror attack" -- Sky News video report

Per Sky News:"Two Asian men are being held after a burning Jeep was rammed through the terminal building at Glasgow airport... [s]ince the attack, Blackpool airport has been shutdown and security has been tightened at Newcastle and Edinburgh airports."

Later, Sky News also reported that one of the men "was found wearing a suspicious device". Officers would not say whether it was a suicide belt.

Moreover, Sky News is also reporting: "Hundreds of shocked holidaymakers were in the area at the time, and witnesses said some of them removed gas cylinders from the jeep before it caught fire. There are reports the occupants - described as Asian males - were trying to pour petrol on the flames."

Witness reports state they saw between 2 and 4 "Asian males" in the Jeep SUV, and some witness reports stated that they saw molotov cocktails in the Jeep SUV.

BBC reports witnesses stating it appeared the men deliberately tried to set the car on fire. "It looked like they had Molotov cocktails with them... They sort of burst them round about the flames to make sure the car would go up big style."

BBC reports that: "Strathclyde Police said two people had been arrested and detained in connection with the incident. The airport has been evacuated and all flights suspended following the incident at 1515 BST. "

UK Channel 4 states "The police say at the moment they don't know if this is linked to yesterday's foiled car bomb attacks in London, but with witnesses talking of the car trying to ram the entrance and the men holding things that looked like petrol bombs - those at the airport are in little doubt this was a car bomb attack."

CNN reports that "Witnesses describe one of the Jeep's three passengers shouting 'Allah' as a he fought with police and a second man set himself on fire. 'He was shouting something. 'Allah,' something, ''Allah.' Every time he threw a punch, he was saying 'Allah.' "

ITN News states: "Downing Street have announced that Prime Minister Gordon Brown will chair a meeting of the Government's Cobra emergency contingencies committee later to discuss the incident." The London Times reports that "A Home Office spokesman said that the official security alert level remains at 'severe', as it has been for some time." London Times also reported that "The Queen is in Scotland today for the inauguration of Scotland's third Parliament".

The US "is boosting security presence at airports in the wake of terrorist acts in London and Glasgow", the White House confirmed to FOX News.

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UPDATE ON ARRESTS
Associated Press reports on arrests:
--- 2 Arrested After Car on Fire Rams Glasgow Terminal
--- Police Arrest 2 More in Connection With London, Scotland Terror Incidents -- two suspects were arrested in Cheshire - in addition to two arrested in Glasgow at airport attack -- Cheshire suspects arrested by a joint swoop by specialist officers from London and Birmingham

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ABC News reports that a senior US law enforcement officer states that "U.S. law enforcement officials received intelligence reports two weeks ago warning of a possible terror attack in Glasgow against "airport infrastructure or aircraft'".

ABC News also reports that "counter-terrorism analysts estimate that the apparently coordinated attacks in Great Britain are the work of a sleeper cell that could include as many as 20 individuals."

Sources:

Sky News: 'Terror Strike' As Burning Jeep Hits Glasgow Airport
Sky News video report
BBC: Blazing car crashes into airport
BBC: Eyewitness 'tackled' burning man
CNN: Blazing car rammed into Glasgow Airport
UK Channel 4: Two arrested after Glasgow car ram
ITN News: Car smashed into Glasgow Airport
The London Times: Blazing car driven into Glasgow Airport terminal
FOX News: U.S. Orders Boost of Airport Security in Wake of London, Glasgow Terrorist Acts
Sky News: Brown: 'Be United, Resolute And Strong'
ABC News: US Warned of Glasgow Threat Two Weeks Ago
ABC News: Sleeper Terror Cell on the Loose in U.K.
CNN: Glasgow Terrorist Shouts "Allah" in Fighting Police (my title)

Posted by manager at 03:21 PM | Permalink

The following is a report by the London Times, which provides information as to the car bomb terrorist attack attempts of June 29.  This shows the persistent nature of the British Jihadist organizations: 

London Times report on attempted nightclub car bomb attack on London: 

London Times

June 29, 2007

Car bomb found and defused in Central London

Sean O'Neill and David Byers
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2003808.ece

"Police defused a "potentially viable explosive device" in a car in Central London in the early hours of this morning, after what appeared to be an attempted terrorist attack against a nightclub in the heart of the capital."

"The silver Mercedes was discovered in the Haymarket area, after police were contacted at 2am with concerns about a suspicious car. "

"Witnesses said that the vehicle contained two gas canisters and nails were on the floor of the boot. They added that the car had been driven into a series of bins outside a nightclub in the area called Tiger Tiger."

"The driver of the car was then seen to have jumped out of the car and run away. It is believed that a nightclub bouncer then went to investigate the empty car, and called police after believing it was suspicious. A massive manhunt for the driver of the vehicle is under way."

"Officers are expected to take the car away today to the Forensic Explosives Laboratory in Kent for further tests."

"Terror groups like al-Qaeda are believed to have been planning attacks on nightclubs, which are considered by Islamic fundamentalists to be symbols of Western decadance."

"Earlier this year, a number of Islamist extremist terrorists were imprisoned for planning a number of 'spectacular' attacks using fertiliser bombs, including a potential bomb at London's Ministry of Sound nightclub."

"Tiger Tiger is a combined bar, restaurant and nightclub, part of a wider national chain, that opens from midday until the early hours of the morning."

"Police this morning cordoned off a number of entrances and exits to Piccadilly Circus Tube Station, which was then closed for safety reasons by Transport for London. The station is set to remain closed for much of the morning, along with major roads all around the area including Wardour Street and Shaftesbury Avenue."

"In addition to their Haymarket inquiries, police are now thought to be conducting a huge operation across London of the iconic sites to see if devices have been left there."
 
"Every car going into the Wimbledon car parks today are being searched, causing chaos and long queues at the All England Club. Police are also believed to be looking for devices near places like the Tower of London, Bank of England and the Houses of Parliament."

"Al-Qaeda are known to particularly favour attacks against major symbols of the British state."

"A Metropolitan Police statement said today: 'As a precautionary measure, the immediate area was cordoned off while the vehicle was examined by explosives officers."

'They discovered what appeared to be a potentially viable explosive device. This was made safe.

'The MPS Counter Terrorism Command has launched an investigation.

'The Haymarket is likely to remain closed for the foreseeable future.

'The public are advised that there is likely to be local disruption to both pedestrians and vehicles.'"

"The incident comes in Gordon Brown's second full day as Prime Minister, and marks a stormy start in his new job for the new leader. In his first day, three soldiers were confirmed to have been killed in a roadside bomb attack in southern Iraq.
 
"Mr Brown's new Cabinet was due to meet this morning, and will be briefed by Cobra, the government's emergencies committee."

"The attempted attack comes as the current terror threat against the UK is assessed as "severe," the second highest level, meaning that intelligence analysts consider an attack highly likely. The highest level, "critical", means that an attack is expected imminently."

"Earlier this month security spot checks were introduced on petrol and chemical tankers, cement mixers and other vehicles that could be used by suicide on key routes into London, amid concerns that terrorists might copy tactics that have been used to deadly effect by insurgents in Iraq."

"Bombers in Baghdad have blown themselves up in hijacked petrol tankers and, in at least three attacks this year, have used chlorine gas canisters in lorry bombs."

"The checks follow a warning this year by Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, that "vehicle-borne weaponry is the greatest danger that we can face". But Scotland Yard said on June 6 that it had no specific intelligence to suggest that a lorry-bomb attack was imminent."

"The Metropolitan Police's Counter-Terrorism Command set up the checks as a precautionary measure but they were then incorporated into Operation Mermaid, a long-running operation aimed at ensuring vehicle safety."

"An al-Qaeda terrorist convicted last year had been planning vehicle-borne bomb attacks in London when he was arrested. Dhiren Barot pleaded guilty to plotting a series of attacks, including detailed plans to pack stretch limousines with gas cylinders and explosives and detonate them in car parks beneath hotels or office blocks."

Posted by manager at 09:27 AM | Permalink

In London today, a car bomb was defused outside of a central London nightclub at 2 AM (British Time), targeting up to 1,700 people with a combination of gasoline bombs and reportedly a trunk full of nails.

London police were contacted when witnesses saw a Mercedes being driven erratically near London West End night club Tiger Tiger, and the driver jumped out of the automobile and ran away. The car was reported to have two gasoline canisters and be full of nails. Witnesses subsequently saw gas canisters being removed from a Mercedes automobile by police at 4 AM BDT.

According to the Daily Mail, the apparent target, the Tiger Tiger nightclub in Haymarket, had up to 1,700 people inside. A Daily Mail senior anti-terrorist source said: "This was a viable device which could have caused massive damage and killed hundreds if it had worked. The consequences would have been terrible. This is the scenario that we have dreaded."

Shane Brighton, a counter-terrorism expert, told Sky News: "This is highly unlikely to be an Irish device, given the current state of politics there. Al Qaeda tend to go for symbolic timing."

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UPDATE
Officials confirm plot involves "Islamic extremists" - photo of suspect - second car bomb found - linked to first car bomb - and Internet posting of threat night before bombing attempts

ABC reports: "British police have a 'crystal clear' picture of the man who drove the bomb-rigged silver Mercedes outside a London nightclub" and that he bears 'a close resemblance' to a man arrested by police in connection with another bomb plot but released for lack of evidence. Officials say the suspect had been taken into custody in connection with the case of al Qaeda operative Dhiren Barot. U.S. and British law enforcement officials tell ABC News it is increasingly clear Friday's bomb plot in London involves multliple vehicles, and is described by a senior official as a 'terror plot involving lslamic extremists.' "

A second car bomb was found during the day in London's West End. The Telegraph reports that "Sources revealed that officers examining a Mercedes found in an underground car park off Park Lane this afternoon discovered an explosive device inside. Earlier this afternoon Park Lane was sealed off and Hyde Park evacuated after bomb experts were called in to examine the car. Security alerts caused by the searches brought much of London to a standstill."

FOX News reports that British anti-terror police chief Peter Clarke stated" 'The vehicle was found to contain very similar materials to those that had been found in the first car,' he said. 'There was a considerable amount of fuel and gas canisters. As in the first vehicle, there was also a quantity of nails. This like the first device was potentially viable.' "

CBS News reports that "Hours before London explosives technicians dismantled a large car bomb in the heart of the British capital's tourist-rich theater district, a message appeared on one of the most widely used jihadist Internet forums, saying: 'Today I say: Rejoice, by Allah, London shall be bombed.' This was on the "al Hesbah" chat room by a person who goes by the name "Abu Osama al-Hazeen".

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This type of car bombing plot is typical of other British Jihadist car bomb plots in the past, including both the July 2005 bomb plots, and the Dhiren Barot Jihadist group bomb plots.
--- In July 2005, a number of bombs and components, some packed with nails to cause death and maximum injury, were recovered from a car parked by the July 7 bombers at Luton station.
--- British Jihadist Dhiren Barot pleaded guilty to plotting a series of attacks, including detailed plans to explode limousines packed with gas cylinders, explosives and nails after leaving them in underground London parking garages or hotels.

Scotland Yard stated that detectives from Counter Terrorism Command were investigating the bomb plot.

Police said they had no warning of an attack. "The police did not have any advance intelligence of this which is worrying," said Paul Wilkinson, chairman of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St. Andrew's University in Scotland. "They will be concerned there might be other devices in the area or elsewhere in central London because if it is al-Qaeda one of their characteristics is to set off coordinated devices.''

This came on the second day of Gordon Brown's role as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, who has urged Britons to remain vigilant following the discovery.

Traffic disruption is ongoing as London police investigate the incident; this includes closing nearby streets, diverting buses, and closing the Piccadilly Circus subway station.

Sources:

London Times: Car bomb defused near London nightclub
London Telegraph: Car bomb found in London's West End
BBC News: Car bomb found in central London
Sky News: Bomb Designed To Cause Devastation
Daily Mail: London on terror alert after 'massive' bomb attack on bar
Bloomberg: U.K. Police Find Explosive Device in Central London (Update6)
ABC: Terror Plot Involves Islamic Extremists; Police Have 'Crystal Clear' Picture of Suspect
Daily Telegraph: Second car bomb found in London's West End
FOX News: Police Find Explosive Device in Second Car in London - same gasoline bomb and nails as first
CBS: Was London Bomb Plot Heralded On Web? Internet Forum Comment From Night Before: "London Shall Be Bombed"
ABC: A Most Lethal Anti-Personnel Bomb Defused : Anatomy of a Bomb in London
Evening Standard: Al Qaeda suspected of massive bomb attack on nightclub
ABC: Car Bomb Found in London 20 Days After al Qaeda Suicide Bomber 'Graduation Ceremony'
FOX: Official: Diffused Bomb in Central London Would Have Caused Significant Damage
Britain's domestic Press Association news agency: Police probe possible Iraq link to London bomb
Bombs find shows outrages on 7/7 and 7/21 were linked
Dhiren Barot: British Terror Plotter Gets Life In Prison
Steven Emerson on Fox News, June 29, 2007 - discussing the London car bomb

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(UK) Lockerbie bomber allowed appeal -- Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi

(UK) Background: Meet Hizb ut-Tahrir, the Islamic threat no one knows about

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(UK) Two men charged under Terrorism Act

(UK) Train station to get terrorist-tracking CCTV

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(UK) 'Honour' killings linked to terror groups
Alternate Link

(UK) Terror suspect appears in court -- Ceri Bullivant - absconded while subject to an anti-terror control order

(UK) Lockerbie Verdict Could Be Sent Back to Appeals Court

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Scotland: Hijab banned in football games

(UK) Now schools are told to let Muslim girls wear head-to-toe 'burkinis' for swimming lessons

Posted by manager at 08:22 AM | Permalink

(UK) Muslim peer compares Rushdie to 9/ll bombers -- Labour peer Lord Ahmed of Rotherham

(UK) British Muslims burn St George's flag at anti-Rushdie rally

(UK) British Muslims join global protests at knighthood for Salman Rushdie

(UK) Head-to-toe Muslim veils test tolerance of secular Britain

(UK) Britain's first Muslim MP 'hounded out' by racist murder gang -- gang is linked to racist murderers Imran Shahid, Zeeshan Shahid and Mohammed Faisal Mushtaq

(UK) Resigning MP tells of death threats - instrumental in arranging the extradition of the three men after they fled to Pakistan

(UK) I'm more likely to be assassinated in UK than in Baghdad, says Blair

Posted by manager at 11:16 AM | Permalink

(UK) Seventh terror suspect flees control order - new terrorist suspect on run - suspect subject to control order vanished Monday night
Alternate Link

(UK) Convicted Terrorist states 'Led astray' by Al Qaeda general Dhiren Barot

(UK) Leicester: 'Look out for signals of terrorist activity'

Posted by manager at 09:14 AM | Permalink

(UK) Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett: Britain 'sorry' if Muslims are offended by Rushdie award

New Rushdie protests after Britain defends award

Posted by manager at 08:12 AM | Permalink

(UK) Home secretary defends Rushdie knighthood

Muslims hold new protests against Rushdie knighthood

Commentary: Death to Rushdie, Again

(UK) Muslim officer is first on the beat donning hijab

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(UK) Britain offers to share migrants' files with US -in an attempt to tighten transatlantic security

(UK) Papers pay out over terror claim

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(UK) Scotland Yard man admits leaking terror report
Alternate Link:

(UK) Blackburn - Terror plot: 'town is not a terrorist haven'

Suicide Bomb Teams Sent to U.S., Europe - ABC reports that teams assigned to carry out attacks in the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Germany were introduced at an al Qaeda/Taliban training camp graduation ceremony held June 9
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/06/exclusive_suici.html
Video:
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3290535
Photos:
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/popup?id=3290410

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(UK) BBC is urged to break free from the 'liberal concensus'
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article1945850.ece

(UK) BBC report finds bias within corporation
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/17/nbbc217.xml&CMP=ILC-mostviewedbox

(UK) BBC network admits it: We're biased toward left
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56228

(UK) Commentary: The Hamas, MI6, BBC axis
http://www.melaniephillips.com/diary/?p=1555

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(UK) Dirty bomb plotters jailed for 136 years -- Seven accomplices of dirty bomb plotter Dhiren Barot jailed
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070615/wl_uk_afp/britainattackscourts_070615110145;_ylt=AkWNeC2F5d5LU3Y5QQCNOGQwuecA

(UK) Profiles of Dhiren Barot British Jihadist gang

(UK) Judge lifts terror suspect's anonymity order on Zeeshan Siddiqui

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UK woman taught to be a bomber - turn herself into a suicide bomber by concealing explosives under baggy, traditional Islamic clothing

Woman in UK 'groomed' as bomber
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6740743.stm
 
(UK) Video: Wife of a British Jihadi
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_6740000/newsid_6743200?redirect=6743255.stm&news=1&nbwm=1&bbram=1&bbwm=1&nbram=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_scnjcyVRpE&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Flittlegreenfootballs%2Ecom%2Fweblog%2F%3Fentry%3D25831%26only%26rsssmall

Posted by manager at 10:41 AM | Permalink

(UK) Video: Wife of a British Jihadi
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_6740000/newsid_6743200?redirect=6743255.stm&news=1&nbwm=1&bbram=1&bbwm=1&nbram=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_scnjcyVRpE&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Flittlegreenfootballs%2Ecom%2Fweblog%2F%3Fentry%3D25831%26only%26rsssmall

 
Woman in UK 'groomed' as bomber
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6740743.stm

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(UK) Anti-Semitism in Britain at 'worst level since 1936'

Related News: 
(UK) 11,000 UK soldiers have gone AWOL

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(UK) Roman Catholic Cardinal calls on Muslims to fight for freedom

(UK) Police "failed" victim of honor killing

(UK) Muslim leaders - 'Imams are not the solution to terrorism'

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(UK) Give us a Mufti, say UK Muslims

(UK) Muslim women abused army man at Birmingham hospital

(UK) Civil Service Turf Wars over Islamism

(UK) Father Mahmod Mahmod found guilty of "honor killing" - strangulation of 20 year daughter

Posted by manager at 07:31 AM | Permalink

(UK) British firm feels the heat over illegal uranium sales to Iran, Sudan

MI6 probes UK link to nuclear trade with Iran - British company closed after attempt to sell weapons-grade uranium to Iran and Sudan

Posted by manager at 09:15 AM | Permalink

(UK) July 21 Plot 'link to cleric of hate' Abu Hamza

(UK) Hamas PM to address UK protest - Hamas terror group leader to address UK protest group in Trafalgar Square

(UK) Lockerbie bomber 'to return to Libya' after just seven years in prison

(UK) 'Secret pact to return Lockerbie bomber'

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(UK Islam) Timeout London: Is London's future Islamic?
Time Out argues that an Islamic London would be a better place  

Alternate Link 1
Alternate Link 2

A nasty outbreak of Islamophilia

 

Posted by manager at 08:54 AM | Permalink

The following is a report from Timeout magazine, which demonstrates the challenges to the UK in considering Islamism as a threat to the UK democracy:

Michael Hodges' Islamist Propaganda on London and Islam:

Is London's future Islamic?

http://www.timeout.com/london/features/2993.html?cpage=2&ccat=5

It's the capital's fastest growing religion, based on noble traditions and compassionate principles, yet Islam can still be tainted by mistrust and misunderstanding. Here Time Out argues that an Islamic London would be a better place

The noise from the expectant crowd hushed to a murmur as an open-backed lorry that had driven slowly up the Mall – known since the Islamic revolution of 2021 as The Way of the Martyrs – nudged its way through the thousands gathered in Mohammad Sidique Khan Square. On the lorry, two masked guards held a young man, black hood over his head; a quiver running through the material suggested he knew what was coming.

The lorry halted by the plinth that had once held Marc Quinn's sculpture 'Alison Lapper Pregnant' – long since removed as an insult to decency – and was now the place of public execution. A rope noose attached to a wire cable hung from a mechanised hoist. The main doors of what had been the National Gallery flung open and an Imam walked down the steps of the new Institute of Islamic Jurisprudence, opened only a week before by Sultan Charles, Prince of Islam and protector of the faithful in England.

The official executioner placed a stepladder against the plinth. The lorry pulled up and the young man was pushed out, then forced up the ladder. The noose was forced over the condemned man's head. The crowd chanted 'Allahu akbar' (God is greater than everything).The hoist driver put his finger on a green button … Okay, not really – that's a hysterical, right-wing nightmare of a future Muslim London: where an cruel alien creed is forced on a liberal city. A society where women are second-class citizens, same sex relationships a crime and Sharia law enforces terrible public disfigurement and death. But the reality is a long, long way from this dark vision.

For a start, Islam is not an alien religion to London. At the end of World War I the city sat at the heart of an Empire that had 160 million Muslim subjects, 80 million in India alone. London was the largest Islamic capital in the world. Forty years later and the end of the Empire, unrest and war and poverty in south Asia had lead to mass immigration to the mother country and London became a Muslim capital in another sense.

According to the 2001 census there are 607,083 Muslims living in London (310,477 men and 296,606 women). The majority of Muslims live in the east of the city and, by 2012, the Muslim Council of Britain estimates that the Muslim population of Tower Hamlets, Newham, Waltham Forest and Hackney will be 250,000. There are plans afoot (though no formal application has yet been submitted) to build the UKs biggest mosque – capable of welcoming 40,000 worshippers – near the 2012 Olympic site, a move which has prompted predictable outrage from some quarters. Consequently, Muslim disillionment with a reactionary and often ill-informed press is at an all time high.

But rather than fear the inevitable changes this will bring to London, or buy in to a racist representation of all Muslims as terrorists, we should recognise both what Islam has given this city already, and the advantages it would bring across a wide range of areas in the future.

Public health

On the surface, Islamic health doesn't look good: the 2001 census showed that 24 per cent of Muslim women and 21 per cent of Muslim men suffered long-term illness and disability. But these are factors of social conditions rather than religion. In fact, Islam offers Londoners potential health benefits: the Muslim act of prayer is designed to keep worshippers fit, their joints supple and, at five times a day, their stomachs trim. The regular washing of the feet and hands required before prayers promotes public hygiene and would reduce the transmission of superbugs in London's hospitals.

Alcohol is haram, or forbidden, to Muslims. As London is above the national average for alcohol-related deaths in males, with 17.6 per 100,000 people (Camden has 31.6 per 100,000 males), turning all the city's pubs into juice bars would have a massive positive effect on public health. Forbid alcohol throughout the country, and you'd avoid many of the 22,000 alcohol-related deaths and the £7.3 billion national bill for alcohol-related crime and disorder each year.

Ecology

'The world is green and beautiful,' said the prophet Muhammad, 'and Allah has appointed you his guardian over it.' The Islamic concept of halifa or trusteeship obliges Muslims to look after the natural world and Muhammad was one of the first ever environmentalists, advocating hima – areas where wildlife and forestry are protected. So we could expect more public parks under Islam, but halifa also applies to recycling: in 2006, 12,000 Muslims attended a series of sermons at the East London Mosque explaining the theological evidence for a link between behaving in an environmentally sustainable way and the Islamic faith.

Education

Presently, Muslim students perform less well than non-Muslim students. In inner London, 37 per cent of 16 to 24-year-old Muslims have no qualifications (the figure for the general population of the same age and location is 25 per cent). When it comes to university education the picture is equally gloomy: 16 to 24-year-old Muslims are half as likely to have degree level or above qualification than other inner London young people.

Again, social factors rather than religion have led to this state of affairs. Young Muslims in London are often of south Asian origin and therefore more likely to live in households where English is not the first language, more likely to encounter racism (both intentional and unintentional) during their education, and more likely to suffer from poverty and bad housing conditions.

But Tahir Alam, education spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, claims Muslim children do better in their own faith schools than in the mainstream state sector: 'Muslim schools have their own distinct ethos. They use the children's faith and heritage as primary motivators to provide the backdrop for their education and behaviour. This ethos is consistent with the messages that children are getting at home, so it is a very coherent operation between the home and the school.'

If Islam became the dominant religion in London the same ethos could be applied to schooling across swathes of underprivileged and deprived areas of the city. This could have a revolutionary effect on educational achievement and, perhaps just as importantly, general levels of discipline and self-respect among London's young people. While controversy rages over faith schools, there are 37 Muslim schools in London. As of 2004, only five were state schools, but there is growing pressure to bring more into the state sector which, according to Alam, will 'help raise achievement for many sectors of the Muslim community. Many private Muslim schools are under-resourced and if they can be brought into the state sector this valuable experience can be extended to more children.'

Food

Application of halal (Arabic for 'permissable') dietary laws across London would free us at a stroke from our addiction to junk food, and the general adoption of a south Asian diet rich in fruit juice, rice and vegetables with occasional mutton or chicken would have a drastic effect on obesity, hyperactivity, attention deficit disorders and associated public health problems. As curry is already Londoners' and the nation's favourite food (see our Brick Lane food feature), it would be a relatively easy process to encourage the adoption of such a diet. Not eating would be important as well. The annual fasting month of Ramadan instils self-discipline, courtesy and social cohesion. And Londoners would benefit philosophically and physically from even a short period when we weren't constantly ramming food into our mouths.

Inter-faith relations

In an Islamic London, Christians and Jews – with their allegiance to the Bible and the Talmud – would be protected as 'peoples of the book'. Hindus and Sikhs manage to live alongside a large Muslim population in India, so why not here? Although England has a long tradition of religious bigotry against, for instance, Roman Catholics, it is reasonable to assume that under the guiding hand of Islam a civilised accommodation could be made among faith groups in London. This welcoming stance already exists in the capital in the form of the City Circle (see Yahya Birt interview), which encourages inter-faith dialogue and open discussion. 

Arts

Some of the finest art in London is already Islamic. The Jameel Gallery at the V&A houses 'ceramics, textiles, carpets, metalwork, glass and woodwork, which date from the great days of the Islamic caliphate of the eighth and ninth century' up until the turn of the last century. Or take a free daily tour of the Addis Gallery of Islamic art (