Dr. Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, whom John Esposito of Georgetown University famously called “a reformist” explains the ins and outs of the Islamic view on apostasy in this article from Islamonline: The greatest kind of danger that faces Muslims is that which threatens their moral aspect of existence, i.e., their belief. That is why apostasy from Islam […]

An update on this story from our “violence gets results department” and Reuters: JAKARTA – Jakarta’s police chief said Thursday that the Indonesia publishers of Playboy magazine should put off their next issue after attacks on their offices. About 300 hardline Islamists vandalized the building housing Playboy’s offices Wednesday in a protest against its publication […]

As reported the New Duranty Times, aka the New York Times: WASHINGTON “” The widening circle of retired generals who have stepped forward to call for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s resignation is shaping up as an unusual outcry that could pose a significant challenge to Mr. Rumsfeld’s leadership, current and former generals said on […]

From USA Today with thanks to Looney Tunes: BEIRUT — The sectarian violence in Iraq is feeding fears that tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims will worsen across the Middle East. The long-standing divisions between the two major Muslim sects were highlighted anew last week when Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak questioned the loyalties of Shiites […]

We’re still awaiting official confirmation from the FBI on this story from AP: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – An Al-Qaida member wanted for his suspected role in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa was killed by Pakistani forces near the Afghan border, a Pakistani official said Thursday. FBI officials in Washington and U.S. and […]

More jihad violence in Kashmir reported by Fox News: SRINAGAR, India “” A series of grenade attacks by suspected separatist rebels shook Kashmir’s capital on Friday, killing five people and wounding at least 18, police said. All those killed were civilians “” three women and two men who died of their injuries at the main […]

Columnist Andrew Bolt asks “who’s kidding who?” in this piece from Australia’s Herald Sun: In February Treasurer Peter Costello was monstered for saying Muslims shouldn’t come to Australia unless they accepted basic Australian values. And he listed them: democracy, the freedoms of a secular state, and “loyalty first — loyalty to Australia”. For this he […]

More on the Hatan Surucu murder from TimesOnline: AYHAN SURUCU was so angry when his sister started to wear make-up and date German men that he put a gun to her head at a bus stop and killed her. The 18-year-old Turk fired three bullets into her brain and calmly walked away. Boys at a […]

“Chad displays rebel “mercenaries”, blames Sudan” From Reuters, with thanks to Marisol Seibold: N’DJAMENA – Chad’s government on Friday paraded captured rebels it said were recruited by Sudan as the capital N’Djamena recovered from a surprise raid by insurgents fighting President Idriss Deby. The government said it repulsed Thursday’s early morning attack in fighting that […]

From Reuters: VIENNA, April 9 – European imams meeting in Vienna have pledged to work harder to prove that Islam is compatible with democracy and that the majority of Muslims living in the West support human rights, free speech and pluralism. More than 130 prayer leaders from across the continent, whose meeting was sponsored by […]