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‘The Sharia Triangle’: Dutch Anxious As Islamic Law Takes Over Muslim-Dominated Area Of The Hague

05/24/2013 9 comments

Is Europe beginning to see a pattern yet? …

By Peter Cluskey, The Irish Times – “There have been calls for an urgent debate in the Dutch parliament about the integration of Muslim immigrants amid claims that one area of The Hague, known locally as ‘the Sharia triangle’, is being run by a form of unofficial Sharia police.

The claims relate to the district of Schilderswijk, about two kilometres from the city centre, where an almost entirely Muslim population of some 5,000 people surrounds the El Islam mosque, fuelling criticism that the government has failed to ensure a proper ethnic mix in schools and local housing. One recent investigation, in which local people were extensively interviewed, concluded that Schilderswijk had become ‘orthodox Muslim territory’ which was now largely ignored by the city authorities, by politicians and even by the police, on the grounds that it had become self-regulating.

The investigation found that orthodox Muslims had become so dominant that they were dictating what people in the neighbourhood wore and how they behaved.

‘The norms of the majority are beginning to take over,’ it said.

In the case of women, dress was a particular issue. One woman told how her daughter had been approached and told her short skirt was inappropriate, while her son had been called a ‘kaffir’ – a racist term formerly used in colonial South Africa to refer to a black person – for smoking.” Read more.

Flashback: Denmark: Muslim Gangs Terrorize Copenhagen Courthouse, ‘With Islam Comes Fear, And With Fear Comes Power’ – “More than 140 Muslim gang members were arrested in Denmark after they tried to raid a courthouse where two fellow Muslims are being tried for attempted murder. The Muslims — all members of criminal street gangs that have taken over large parts of Danish towns and cities — were wearing masks and bullet-proof vests … Police used batons and pepper spray to fend off the gang members, who were armed with an arsenal of 20 different types of weapons …” Read more.

Flashback: Denmark: City Officials Ban Israeli Flags At Local ‘Diversity Festival’ Celebrating Different Countries To Avoid Offending Muslims – “A city hall request that the Israeli flag not be displayed at a street festival intended to promote diversity has Jewish community leaders wondering what ‘diversity’ really means to some city leaders… Organisers said they feared clashes between Jewish, Muslim and leftist groups if the Israeli flag was displayed.”Read more.

Flashback: Denmark: Muslim Mob Goes On Terror Rampage Through Copenhagen Hospital – “It is a very dark, but little known, underside to the multicultural nightmare that western European societies are fast becoming… The trouble apparently began earlier that evening between rival immigrant groups when two members of one group drove up to the other’s Eid al-Fitr celebration that was being held in a shopping center parking lot… The hospital invasion was so barbarous and disturbing to the Danish public that a ‘shocked’ Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt was compelled to comment on it, calling it ‘serious criminal behavior’ at a news conference.” Read more.

Contagion: Muslims Riot For Sixth Night In Sweden As Red Cross Warns ‘Civil Unrest’ May Spread Across Europe

05/24/2013 3 comments

Reaping what they’ve sown

Channel News Asia – “Stockholm experienced a sixth straight night of riots early Saturday, with cars torched in several immigrant-dominated suburbs, as Britain and the United States warned against travelling to the hotspots.

Nearly a week of unrest, which spread briefly Friday night to the medium-sized city of Oerebro 160 kilometres west of Stockholm, have put Sweden’s reputation as an oasis of peace and harmony at risk.

The unrest has also sparked a debate among Swedes over the integration of immigrants, many of whom arrived under the country’s generous asylum policies, and who now make up about 15 per cent of the population.

An AFP photographer witnessed a car engulfed in flames before firefighters arrived in the Stockholm district of Tensta. Cars were incinerated in three other areas of the capital as well, according to the Swedish news agency TT.

‘I’ve never before taken part in anything that lasted so long and was spread over such a wide area,’ police spokesman Lars Bystroem told TT.

Another police official said earlier that Stockholm police were about to receive reinforcements from Gothenburg and Malmoe, the country’s second- and third-largest cities, but declined to disclose how many would arrive.

In the city of Oerebro, police reported a fire at a school as well as several cars ablaze, but quiet had returned around midnight. The unrest in Stockholm had ‘rubbed off’, police told TT.” Read more.

Politically Correct Media Blames Muslim Rioting On ‘Rocketing Unemployment’, Red Cross Warns Unrest May Spread Across Europe – “Rocketing unemployment and poverty in some areas of Europe could lead to rising civil unrest, unless governments take measures to address the humanitarian consequences of austerity measures, the secretary-general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has warned. Bekele Geleta’s caution comes as police battle with rioters in Stockholm, where high unemployment and social deprivation in migrant communities have been blamed for a week of violence.” Read more.

UK: PM Cameron Regurgitates PC Drivel After Jihadist Killing, ‘There Is Nothing In Islam That Justifies This Truly Dreadful Act’

05/23/2013 2 comments

I won’t say I told you so. This is precisely the type of attitude that perpetuates the ever-increasing rise of Islam in non-Islamic nations, and the consequences that go along with it …

By Nigel Morris, The Independent – “David Cameron today condemned the Woolwich murder as a ‘betrayal of Islam’ as he insisted Britain would stand resolute against terror attacks.

He was speaking after chairing a meeting of Whitehall’s Cobra emergency committee of ministers, police chiefs and senior figures in the security services.

Standing outside Downing Street, the Prime Minister said: ‘This was not just an attack on Britain – and on our British way of life. It was also a betrayal of Islam and of the Muslim communities who give so much to our country.

‘There is nothing in Islam that justifies this truly dreadful act. We will defeat violent extremism by standing together by backing our police and security services and above all by challenging the poisonous narrative of extremism on which this violence feeds.'” Read more.

Really, Mr. Cameron? Take a brief moment to read Islam’s “holy” books. Here are a few examples:

Hadith – Al Bukhari ,  2977, “I have been made victorious with terror” – The ‘Prophet’ Of Islam, Mohammed

Qur’an Sura 33:21, “Indeed in Allah’s Messenger (Mohammad) you have an excellent example to follow for him who hopes in (meeting with) Allah and the Last Day…”

Qur’an Sura 8:55, “Surely the vilest of animals in Allah’s sight are those who disbelieve [non-Muslims] …”

Qur’an Sura 8:12b, “… terrorize and behead those who believe in scriptures other than the Qur’an.”

Qur’an Sura 9:5, “… fight and slay the Pagans [non-Muslims] wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war) …”

British Cleric Anjem Choudary – Islam Plans To Dominate The UK

‘Changing Before Our Eyes’: Israel Warns Of Potential ‘Surprise War’ With Surrounding Islamic Nations

05/23/2013 Leave a comment

Joel 3:11-12, “Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, And gather yourselves there. Bring down, O LORD, Your mighty ones. Let the nations be aroused And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I will sit to judge All the surrounding nations.”

The Jerusalem Post – “The threat of a conflict suddenly erupting between Israel and its enemies is very real, Israel Air Force chief Maj.-Gen. Amir Eshel warned on Wednesday.

The advanced S-300 Russian air defense system is ‘on the way to Syria,’ he added.

The IDF chief of staff, Lt.- Gen. Benny Gantz, echoed Eshel’s message. The chance of a multi-arena conflict breaking out are ‘substantial,’ he said.

Eshel, addressing a national security conference held by the Fisher Brothers Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies in Herzliya, said that ‘the Assad regime has invested much to achieve the best air defenses that it could buy,’ including the SA-17, SA-22, SA-24 and the S-300 platforms.

‘These systems are not only an operational threat.

They also lead to an increased sense of security that can lead states to do things they would not otherwise do. This is a totally different generation of weapons, which does not resemble anything in the past. But there’s no system that has no solution. The question is only the price,’ the air force commander said.

Syria is ‘changing before our eyes. If it collapses tomorrow, we could find its vast arsenal dispersed and pointed at us,’ he said.

The threat of a war erupting is ‘many times more relevant today. A surprise war could be born today in many forms. Lone incidents can escalate very quickly and obligate us to be prepared within hours to act to the edge of the spectrum… meaning using the full abilities of the Israel Air Force,’ Eshel said.

‘If during the Second Lebanon War [in 2006] we used only a small amount of these capabilities, in the next war we will have to give 100 percent so that our activities will be swift and very powerful,’ he warned.” Read more.

Flashback: Syrian Rebels: After Assad ‘We Have A Big Fight Against The Jews Ahead Of Us’ – “The results of Saudi Arabia’s tireless efforts were on display in Al-Midan, a suburb in southern Damascus where I recently interviewed rebel fighters. Mateen, a fighter who claimed to have traveled from Afghanistan, shared his ideas for Syria’s future after ridding it of the Assad dynasty. ‘We have to build a society of respect and brotherhood in accordance with the Prophet’s commandments … we have a big fight against the Jews ahead of us. We will take that up, God willing.’” Read more.

Flashback: Lebanon: Nasrallah Says Syria Will Supply ‘Game-Changing Weapons’ To Hezbollah ‘That The Resistance Has Never Obtained Before’ – “Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said on Thursday that Syria will supply his Lebanese militia with ‘game-changing weapons,’ describing the move as Syria’s response to airstrikes earlier in the week… Nasrallah also said Syria had opened up the Golan Heights for ‘resistance groups’ to fight against Israel.” Read more.

Flashback: Why Egyptians Want War With Israel: It’s in the Koran – “Fifty-four per cent of Egyptians want to scrap the Camp David accords that have kept an uneasy peace with Israel since 1979—in yet another blow to the credibility of the many analysts and commentators who assured the American people that the Egyptian uprising heralded the dawn of a new, secular democracy there. A new poll conducted by the Pew Research Center reveals that a significant number of Egyptians manifest a deeply ingrained Islamic antisemitism that leads them to hate Israel—and the Camp David accords—for religious, not political, reasons.” Read more.

Flashback: Iranian Official Calls For ‘Islamic Awakening’ To Destroy Israel, PA Ambassador: Annihilate The ‘Zionist Regime’ – “An Iranian official called this week for an ‘Islamic Awakening’ movement to help Palestinian Authority Arabs ‘demolish the Zionist regime’, the IRNA news agency reported… Sheikholeslam said that ‘In near future the Islamic Awakening movement would also swallow the Zionist regime.’ The first speaker at the conference, according to IRNA, was the PA Ambassador in Tehran, Salah Zawawi, who said that the one and only way to soothe the Arabs’ pains and agony is the annihilation of the Zionist regime.” Read more.

Pakistan: More Than 250 Christian Families Driven From Homes By Angry Muslim Mobs Threatening To Set Fire To Entire Christian Village

05/23/2013 Leave a comment

By Fides via ICN – “More than 250 Christian families have been threatened and thrown out from their homes in the village Chak 31 in Khanewal district, in southern Punjab.

A report drawn up by two human rights groups said: ‘What happened in South Punjab reflects the increase of violence and abuses against religious minorities in Pakistan’ and ‘recalls the serious episode of the attack on Joseph Colony, a Christian area of Lahore, which happened two months ago’.

In the aftermath of the recent elections, the ‘Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’ and ‘Organization for Development and Peace’ have launched an urgent appeal ‘to all parties: politics, political parties, civil society, religious organizations, in order to operate actively to mitigate religious intolerance and promote social cohesion.’

The appeal was launched ‘in the interests of the country and not only for the protection of the rights of minorities.’ Each of the families put to flight by Islamic extremists had about six people, therefore at the moment the faithful without a home are more than 1,500. The escape was the solution chosen to avoid a massacre.

The episode started with a ‘provocation’. About 15 days ago, some Muslims accused a Christian businessman, Asher Yaqoob, owner of a small grocery store, and his Christian customers of having disrespectful attitudes towards Islam, inciting the faithful of the nearby village, ‘Chak 30’ , all Muslims.

Christians called the police, but a police officer, instead of protecting them, became the leader of a crowd of 60 Muslims who began to beat anyone they encountered and started destroying homes and shops. Clashes followed and one man was shot and killed. At the news of the death, the crowd threatened a mass attack and set fire to the entire village. The Christian families had no choice but to flee immediately. In the clashes 20 Christians were arrested by the police. The two organizations – the HRCP and ODP reported everything to the police in Multan and have asked the intervention of the civil and religious authorities to restore peace between the two villages.” Source – ICN.

Flashback: Pakistan Islamists: ‘You Christians Have Offended Our Prophet, We Will Kill You All!’ – “Christians in Pakistan are the target of violence on behalf of Islamic extremists who pour out on them feelings of anger and revenge… Protestant Bishop Naeem Samuel, of the ‘Trinity Evangelical Church Prayer’, was attacked yesterday, as he was leaving the church in Youhanaabad, a suburb of Lahore (Punjab province), where about 10 thousand Christian families live. Three men stopped him and started insulting him with phrases like: ‘You Christians have offended our Prophet, we will kill you all!’” Read more.

Iran: Ayatollah Ali ‘Kill-All-Jews-Worldwide-And-Annihilate-Israel’ Khamenei Calls European Races ‘Barbaric’

05/23/2013 2 comments

Listen to what Khamenei says in full below. His statement is one of the most hypocritical and backward characterizations of Islam and the West, one of the most absurdly ostentatious choice of words that I have heard from an Islamic leader to date. Then again, not much else should be expected from a genocidal “religion” that calls non-Muslims “the vilest of animals in Allah’s sight” (Qur’an Sura 8:55) while Muslims are “the best of peoples evolved for mankind” (Qur’an Sura 3:110) …

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, 5/10/2013: “The European races are barbaric. They wear freshly pressed suits and ties, and they smell of eau de cologne, but deep down they still have the same barbaric nature known from history. They kill with ease. They murder people without any problem. Therefore, beating women in their homes is of no consequence to the (Europeans) and Americans, whereas in an Islamic environment, it is unimaginable.”

Here are teachings taken directly from Islam’s “holy” books, the Qur’an and the Hadith:

Qur’an Sura 48:29, “Mohammed is [Allah’s] apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless to the unbelievers [non-Muslims] but merciful to one another.”

Qur’an Sura 8:12b, “… terrorize and behead those who believe in scriptures other than the Qur’an.”

Hadith – Tabari 9:69, “Killing Unbelievers is a small matter to us” – The Words of Mohammad, Prophet of Islam.

Hadith – Al Bukhari, 2977, “I have been made victorious with terror” – The ‘Prophet’ Of Islam, Mohammed

Qur’an Sura 4:34, “Men have authority over women because [Allah] has made the one superior to the other… Good women are obedient… As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them. Then if they obey you, take no further action against them…”

Hadith – Abu Dawud, 2142, “The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: A man will not be asked as to why he beat his wife.”

Categories: Radical Islam

UK: Muslim Jihad Murderer Referred To Verses Of The Qur’an Which Commanded Him To Murder Non-Muslims

05/23/2013 2 comments

By Robert Spencer, Jihad Watch – “In the version of the video containing remarks from the jihad murderer in London today that can be found above, he clearly mentions Surat at-Tawba at the beginning. (Thanks to Kenneth.)

Why has this video been edited to remove his references to the Qur’an?

He says, ‘Surat at-Tawba through…many, many ayat throughout the Qur’an that…we must fight them as they fight us…’

Surat at-Tawba is the ninth chapter of the Qur’an, and according to Islamic scholars is the last one or one of the last ones to have been revealed that contain doctrinal content — which means that it takes precedence over the others. Some highlights:

‘And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they should repent, establish prayer, and give zakah, let them [go] on their way. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.’ — 9:5

‘Fight them; Allah will punish them by your hands and will disgrace them and give you victory over them and satisfy the breasts of a believing people and remove the fury in the believers’ hearts. And Allah turns in forgiveness to whom He wills; and Allah is Knowing and Wise.’ — 9:14-15

‘Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture – [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled.’ — 9:29

‘O Prophet, fight against the disbelievers and the hypocrites and be harsh upon them. And their refuge is Hell, and wretched is the destination.’ — 9:73

‘O you who have believed, fight those adjacent to you of the disbelievers and let them find in you harshness. And know that Allah is with the righteous.’ — 9:123″ Source – Jihad Watch.

Categories: Radical Islam

British PM: Brutal Beheading Of Man In Broad Daylight Was Terrorism, ‘We Will Not Be Cowed, We Will Never Buckle’

05/22/2013 1 comment

But we’ll allow the hateful ideology that encourages such acts of terror to remain, and flourish, in Britain …

The Washington Post – “LONDON — A brutal attack in broad daylight near a military barracks in London left one man dead and two suspects hospitalized Wednesday after a shootout with police. British Prime Minister David Cameron said the attack appeared to be terror related.

The afternoon attack occurred in the southeast London neighborhood of Woolwich, just a few blocks from the Royal Artillery Barracks.

One man was found dead and two men were shot by police and taken to separate London hospitals, Commander Simon Letchford said. One of those hospitalized was in serious condition, according to London Ambulance Service.

A number of weapons — including butchers’ knives — could be seen on the blood-spattered street…

One British broadcaster ran video footage of what appeared to be one of the attackers, his hands covered in blood, making political statements about ‘an eye for an eye’ to an unknown cameraperson as a body lay behind him on the ground…

Cameron said there were ‘strong indications’ it was a terrorist incident.

‘We have suffered these attacks before, we have always beaten them back,’ Cameron said. ‘We will not be cowed, we will never buckle.’

The British Cabinet’s emergency committee immediately called a meeting and the prime minister’s office said security was stepped up at barracks across London. Cameron cut short his Paris trip to return to London and his office said he would chair another emergency committee meeting Thursday.” Read more.

Categories: Radical Islam

British Islamist Anjem Choudary: We Reject Freedom And Human Rights

05/22/2013 2 comments

Freedom” and “human rights” are two concepts that are completely foreign to Islam, yet the British government allows this Western-hating Islamist to live freely in Western society with the full panoply of human rights that Western freedom provides. It’s time to remove this hate from free society before more heads are removed from their necks …

British Islamist Anjem Choudary, 4/11/2013: “Let me be absolutely clear: As Muslims, we reject democracy, we reject secularism, and freedom, and human rights. We reject all of the things that you espouse as being ideals. And, you know, it’s an oxymoron to say ‘The Islamic Republic.’ There’s nothing called a ‘republic’ in Islam. When we talk about the shari’a, we are talking about only the shari’a ….”

Categories: Radical Islam

‘They Were Just Animals’: UK Muslims Screaming ‘Allahu Akbar’ Behead British Man With Machete On Public Street

05/22/2013 2 comments

The dead man is reported to have been a soldier. This sort of behavior will happen again. And not only in Britain …

Qur’an Sura 8:12b, “… terrorize and behead those who believe in scriptures other than the Qur’an.”

National Post – “LONDON — One person has died and at least two people were wounded in a violent attack near a military training barracks in London, British officials said Wednesday, as Prime Minister David Cameron called an emergency meeting in response.

While details were scant, Cameron called the killing ‘truly shocking’ and said he had asked Home Secretary Theresa May to call an urgent meeting of the government’s emergency committee.

The Daily Telegraph reported that a solider had been beheaded by a machete.

The series of events described by the paper had a black car crashing into a poll on the side of the road followed by two men coming out of the car with machetes. The two men then allegedly attacked the people around the car killing one and injuring others before they were subdued.

After allegedly killing the first man, the two attackers apparently walked around the body calling on onlookers to take photographs, according to witnesses.

Police would not comment immediately on whether the incident appeared to be terror-related. A U.K. official said the violent attack in London could be terror-related.

Scotland Yard said officers responded to reports of the assault Wednesday afternoon in the London neighbourhood of Woolwich, just a few blocks from a military training barracks. London Ambulance service said one man was found dead at the scene and two other men were taken to the hospital, with one in serious condition.

Britain’s Ministry of Defence said it was urgently investigating reports that a serving soldier was involved in the incident.

Live television images of the scene showed a trail of blood staining a pavement, cordoned off streets and crime scene investigators marking the scene.” Read more.

BBC News: Sickening and Barbaric – “Senior Whitehall sources have told the BBC that the Woolwich attackers are thought to have tried to film their attack whilst shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ – [Allah is greater], says political editor Nick Robinson. The men were said to have been of Muslim appearance. The Prime Minister is expected to speak to the Home Secretary at 18:15 BST from a train to Paris about what is now being treated by government as a suspected terrorist attack, Mr Robinson says… One witness, identified only as James, said two men attacked another man, aged about 20, who was wearing a Help for Heroes T-shirt. ‘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 told LBC radio.” Read more.

 

Categories: Radical Islam

Canada: Three Muslim Brothers Face Gang Sexual Assault Charges In Toronto

05/22/2013 5 comments

By MARYAM SHAH, TORONTO SUN – “Three brothers face charges after a 22-year-old woman was sexually assaulted by multiple attackers.

Toronto Police investigators alleged that the victim was led to an underground parking garage and attacked after leaving a nightclub on May 18 in the Richmond St.-Spadina Ave. area.

‘The woman was forcibly confined in the SUV and sexually assaulted by two of the men while in the underground parking garage,’ a police news release said.

Police said that a man initially approached the victim and spoke with her at the nightclub.

That individual and two other men followed the woman when she left as part of a group, according to investigators.

Const. Tony Vella said one of the men approached the woman, offering her a ride.

The woman accepted the offer, he said.

The three men led her to an underground parking garage in the area, where she was sexually assaulted by two of them, according to police allegations.

Officers were called to Blue Jays Way and Windsor St. shortly before 4 a.m. after the woman’s friends became concerned.

‘The friends came back, they were concerned for her, they searched the area, they found her, and that’s when police were contacted,’ Vella said.

The three brothers were arrested shortly after.

According to the Criminal Code of Canada, sexual assault is defined as ‘any form of unwanted sexual contact.’

Nazeef Ahmadzai, 30, and his brothers — Hewad, 26, and Omeed, 24 — face charges of forcible confinement and gang sexual assault. Omeed and Nazeef also each face an additional charge of sexual assault.” Source – Sun News.

Flashback: Canada: Muslim Cleric Wants To Force All Women To Wear Burkas, Head Scarves And Face Veils (Or They’ll Get Raped) – “But don’t worry, this enlightened Muslim cleric only wants all non-Muslim women to dress like Muslim women because he cares so much for their safety.  Indeed, nothing shows you care more for the inferior sex than blaming them for being sexually assaulted. Because they’re asking for it, right?” Read more.

Categories: Radical Islam

Switzerland: Government Report Claims That Muslim Immigrants Are ‘Well Integrated’ Into Society, Reality Says Otherwise

05/22/2013 Leave a comment

An exercise in political correctness indeed. I guess that Islamist groups seeking to overthrow the Democratic order in Europe and “confront this cancer of man-made laws” aren’t really interested in Switzerland. That Swiss authorities made up the claim that jihadists were using Switzerland as a base to promote Islamic extremism across Europe and beyond. That perpetually offended Muslims seeking the removal of the cross from Switzerland’s flag and Swiss company logos were only kidding, and actually want to see the full expression of free speech in Swiss society. And the real problem, according to the report? Why, it’s with people like you and I who expose acts of barbarism, not with those who actually commit them. In the words of one not-so-politically-correct Swiss member of Parliament, Oskar Freysinger, “What lunacy!” …

Islamic Scholar Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi: “Islam wishes to destroy all States and Governments anywhere on the face of the earth which are opposed to the ideology and programme of Islam regardless of the country or the Nation that rules it. Islam requires the earth – not just a portion – but the whole planet.”

By Soeren Kern, Gatestone Institute – “A controversial new report by the Swiss government claims that Muslim immigrants are so well integrated into Swiss society that no further federal policies or programs are needed to promote Muslim integration or to counter Islamic extremism.

Published by the Swiss Federal Council [Bundesrat] on May 8, the 102-page study — known by the short title, ‘The Situation of Muslims in Switzerland‘ — so completely downplays the countless problems associated with Muslim immigration in Switzerland that the report has been ridiculed as being worthy of a ‘case study in political correctness.’

The report was first commissioned by proponents of multiculturalism within the Swiss Cabinet shortly after Swiss voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum in November 2009 to ban the construction of minarets, the tower-like structures on mosques that are often used to call Muslims to prayer.

The surprise outcome of the referendum, which passed with a clear majority of 57.5% of the voters, represented a turning point in the debate about Muslim immigration in Switzerland.

Among other matters, the referendum exposed the growing gap between Swiss multiculturalists and ordinary Swiss voters on the issue of Muslim immigration. The Swiss Federal Council had campaigned hard against the ban, arguing it would ‘endanger peace between religions’ and ‘hinder integration.’ After the ban was approved, the government launched a multi-pronged effort to ‘educate’ the Swiss populace through taxpayer-funded pro-Islam research.

The latest report estimates the Muslim population of Switzerland to be between 350,000 and 400,000, or around 5% of the total population of 8 million. The vast majority of Muslims in the country originate from the Balkans, Turkey and North Africa, and roughly one-third are Swiss citizens. Many of them are second- and third-generation immigrants firmly establishing themselves in Switzerland.

The report says that most Muslims in Switzerland are not religious; only 12% to 15% of Muslims in the country regularly attend a mosque. According to the study, Islam in Switzerland is neither homogenous nor monolithic; it is organized around multiple ethno-linguistic identities that rarely interact with each other.

The greatest barriers to Muslim integration are due to language, not religion, says the study, and serious problems related to Islam occur ‘only in exceptional cases.’ The study notes that the vast majority of Muslims are fully integrated into Swiss society, that Islam presents no particular problems for daily life in Switzerland, and that Islam rarely leads to social conflict. As a result, the study says, the government has decided that no further measures are necessary to promote Muslim integration.

At the same time, however, the report says that Muslims in Switzerland often feel discriminated against, and that the government needs to do more to educate Swiss citizens about ‘Islamophobia.’ Muslim ‘victims’ also need to be better informed of their legal rights under existing anti-discrimination laws.

Needless to say, Muslims have welcomed the government’s conclusions. In a press release, the Islamic Central Council of Switzerland (IZRS), a radical Salafist group that states its desire to install Islamic Sharia law in Switzerland, said the report

Read more…