Islamic scholar Ramadan targeted by new rape complaint

Yahoo – AFP, 25 August 2019

Tariq Ramadan is a married father of four whose grandfather founded Egypt's
Muslim Brotherhood

Tariq Ramadan, a leading Islamic scholar charged in France with raping two women, has also been accused of taking part in the gang rape of a journalist, French judicial sources said Sunday.

The sources confirmed reports on Europe 1 radio and in Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper that a woman in her 50s had accused Ramadan, 56, of raping her along with a member of his staff when she went to interview the academic at a hotel in Lyon in May 2014.

The woman, who filed a criminal complaint in May 2019, also accused Ramadan of issuing "threats or acts of intimidation" aimed at dissuading her from reporting the alleged attack to the police, the judicial sources added.

Ramadan, a married father of four whose grandfather founded Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, was a professor at Oxford University until he was forced to take leave when rape allegations surfaced at the height of the "Me Too" movement in late 2017.

He has denied charges he raped a disabled woman in 2009 and a feminist activist in 2012.

He was taken into custody in February 2018 and held for nine months before being granted bail.

Authorities in Switzerland are also investigating him after receiving a rape complaint in that country.

His lawyer, Emmanuel Marsigny, refused to comment Sunday on the latest allegations against him in France.

The woman behind the latest complaint told police that Ramadan and a male assistant repeatedly raped her in Ramadan's room at the Sofitel hotel in Lyon.

She described the alleged attack as being of "untold violence" and claimed that when she threatened to report them to the police Ramadan replied: "You don't know how powerful I am."

She also claimed that Ramadan had contacted her via the Messenger app in January, two months after his release from jail, saying that he wanted to make her an "offer" of a "professional nature", without giving details.

Tariq Ramadan is a married father of four whose grandfather founded Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

Indonesia's Aceh whips unmarried couples after hotel raid

Yahoo – AFP, 4 March 2019

Twelve people were flogged in Aceh province for being found with a member of
the opposite sex who wasn't a relation or having intimate relations outside marriage

Six couples were publicly whipped in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province Monday for relations outside marriage, with at least two women unable to walk after the painful punishment.

Flogging is common for a range of offences in the region at the tip of Sumatra island, including gambling, drinking alcohol, and having gay sex.

It is the only province in the world's biggest Muslim-majority country that imposes Islamic law.

The twelve people whipped Monday were arrested late last year during a raid on a hotel in the province's capital Banda Aceh.

Four people were each flogged seven times after being found with a member of the opposite sex who wasn't a relation.

Flogging is common for many offences in Aceh, including gambling, 

drinking alcohol, and having gay sex

The others -- who were caught in more compromising positions -- received between 17-25 strokes for having intimate relations outside of marriage, an official said.

All 12 also served several months in prison before the public punishment.

Some women cried out in pain as a masked sharia officer lashed them, and at least two had to be carried from the scene by sharia officers.

Dozens of spectators and journalists watched quietly. Some winced occasionally after the blows, while others used smartphones and tablets to film the spectacle.

"This law is designed to have a deterrent effect, not only for the offenders but for the spectators who watch the caning," said the head of the local public order agency, Marwan, who like many Indonesian goes by one name.

Rights groups have slammed public caning as cruel, and Indonesia's President 

Joko Widodo has called for it to end

He added: "The pain of being flogged is not that bad, the embarrassment is worse."

Rights groups have slammed public caning as cruel, and Indonesia's President Joko Widodo has called for it to end.

But the practice has wide support among Aceh's mostly Muslim population -- around 98 percent of its five million residents practise Islam.

Aceh adopted religious law after it was granted special autonomy in 2001, an attempt by the central government to quell a long-running separatist insurgency.

In December, two men caught having sex with underage girls were whipped 100 times each.

In the only Indonesian province that imposes Islamic law, six couples were publicly whipped for relations outside marriagehttps://t.co/KshjjLTGZb pic.twitter.com/xm11PxnBjJ

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 4 maart 2019

US anti-Islam campaigner donated €150,000 to the PVV in three years

DutchNews, December 28, 2016

Wilders campaigning in 2012. 

Photo: Depositphotos.com

An American foundation run by fervent anti-Islam campaigner David Horowitz has donated at least €150,000 to Geert Wilders’ PVV party in three years, the NRC said on Wednesday. 

The David Horowitz Freedom Center donated €108,244.24 to the PVV in 2015, according to PVV party records which have to be handed over to the home affairs ministry every year. 

That was the biggest single donation by a private individual to a Dutch political party, the NRC said. In 2014, Horowitz donated €18,000 to the PVV, the official records show. 

However, the origin, total amount and what the money was spent on remains unclear, the NRC said. 

The foundation itself says its donated $75,000 in 2014 and the same amount last year. Taking the exchange rate into account, the total in 2014 and 2015 was around €126,000. 

Differences 

Horowitz cannot explain why the PVV has declared different amounts of money to his foundation’s records. The PVV’s accountant, the PVV and Wilders himself have refused to comment, the paper said. 

This year, the donation was smaller – $25,000, the NRC said. 

Political parties have been required to register all donations of over €1,000 since 2013. Donations of over €4,500 have to be made public. 

Other funding

The NRC says Wilders does not appear to have any other foreign funding. Daniel Pipes, director of the neo-conservative think tank Middle East Forum has donated to Wilders in the past but told the NRC last year he was withdrawing his backing following Wilders’ ‘fewer Moroccans’ chant and court case. 

The PVV does not quality for official funding for political parties in the Netherlands because it has no membership structure. Wilders is the only official PVV member.

Saudi fatwa banning chess stirs online outcry

Yahoo – AFP, January 22, 2016

"Chess is prohibited. It is gambling," says a top Saudi cleric, insisting that it is a
 "waste of time and money and a cause for animosity between players" (AFP
Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev)

Dubai (AFP) - A fatwa issued by Saudi Arabia's top cleric prohibiting chess in Islam and equating it with gambling has caused a stir on social media.

In a video of a television programme posted online, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Sheikh appears categorical when asked about the board game in Islam.

"Chess is prohibited. It is gambling," said Sheikh, insisting that it was a "waste of time and money and a cause for animosity between players".

Grand mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz 

al-Shaikh (C) sat among Saudi royals

in 2013 (AFP Photo/HO)

The video was originally recorded about a month ago but has resurfaced online, generating strong reactions on social media in recent days.

Among those who have condemned the fatwa is Russian former world chess champion Garry Kasparov.

"Saudi Arabia trying to ban chess is stupid, but we should be more concerned about their bans on human rights and democracy," Kasparov wrote on his Twitter account.

Lebanese television producer Nasser Fakih tweeted: "Saudi mufti has declared chess haram. Apparently this game makes you use your brain, and this is haram!"

And Twitter user @RaKaN4you said: "Ok, how about PlayStation and Xbox, halal or haram?"

But many tweets were also supportive of the cleric's decision to issue the fatwa.

Saudi Arabia applies a strict interpretation of Sunni Islam, which imposes many restrictions, including the segregation between men and women in public, and reinforces a ban on women driving.

Related Article:

"The Humanization of God"–  Jul 16, 2011 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“… The Humanization of God

I'm going to title this channelling so that my partner will not. I don't always title them, for labeling items is something done for 3D reasons. In your reality, you want a label for the message you're about to hear. So I'll give it to you, just as a dichotomous exercise. Its title will be, "The Humanization of God."

My partner sits in a chair. It has taken him 22 years to bring my conceptual thoughts to you. Even though these conceptual thoughts from the other side of the veil are also within each Human, within your Higher-Self, they are not easy to access. This is because they exist in a multidimensional state and not one that a Human relates to. Therefore, it has taken 22 years for my partner to learn to linearize the concepts into a string of words, presented in a language that you will understand.

Not all of you here and reading this will understand what I'm teaching today. I am aware of that, for Spirit does not speak to Human Beings with words in this fashion. Instead, the language of Spirit speaks in that what you call intuitive flashes, outside of linear time, and all at once. That is how you get your best information. Yet many of you feel you have God all figured out.

Examples of the Linear

As I sit here, perhaps an individual who may be here for the very first time asks the question, "Who are you, Kryon, and where are you from?" Now those two questions may absolutely be logical and normal to every single Human Being who hears and reads this message, but I will tell you that the questions themselves betray biased linear thinking. For Kryon is not a who and is from nowhere. How can that be? The only way I can explain this is to give you metaphors. I know that metaphors don't hold up under full examination, since no analogy is perfect. So consider it only a close example to get you to begin the understanding process.

Let's say you feel incredible love in your life for another Human, or for an animal, for instance, or for your child. Let us say that it is overwhelming and perhaps even has you weep with joy, so strong it is! Now, when you feel this way, do you look around and say, "Who are you, really? Who is there?" Would you address that love emotion as though it had a body and ask, "Where are you from?" You would not! Instead, you'd simply accept it and say, "I know it's coming from me, but it really doesn't feel part of me."

There's something about love. It comes from everywhere. It permeates the soul of the Human Being. You feel it so strongly. You are not aware of it being sent to you, or pulled to you; it just is. But it's unusual and profound, almost like it's part of something else, something bigger. Perhaps it's the God part of you, expanding? You'd be right about that. Love is not singular. You don't segment it into parts, or put a body on it and give it a name either. It's a concept that affects every cell of your body and all your body functions. It sometimes even takes over! This is the beauty of love.

I'm not a who. You hear me within this voice, coming from a singular body of a Human Being. So you understandably want to know who's talking. But the only thing singular here is the Human who I come through. I am best identified as that which is the collection of the confluence of the creative energy source in the Universe. I am uncountable and am not isolated and singular. You can't notate me (define me with attributes in 3D). Twenty-two years ago, I identified myself and said, "I am, that I am." And then I said, "And so are you!" I told you that at the center of the atom is where I am. I told you that the space between the electron haze and the nucleus is filled with love. I told you that the benevolent, creative source energy that is part of you is part of me. It is all things together. You'll find it in a tree, in the dirt and in the grass. You'll find it in the air and you can't ask who because we are not singular. You can't count the flavor in the soup, or identify "where is the salt?" It just "is" the soup.

God does not have the mind of a Human Being with the consciousness of a Human Being. God is not a collection of many separate consciousness parts either, and this is difficult for you to understand. God can talk to every single Human - all 6, 7 billion of them - at the same time. God can carry on a loving, healing conversation, being personal all at once with every single one of you. Think of that! That's not a who. That's the creator of the Universe. That's a divine, intelligent, loving energy. Don't humanize this source! It's not like you.

The Linear Thinker

Humans want to make everything separate and individual. You want to separate, identify, and quantify. This is Human nature, for every living thing you come into contact with is separate and singular - a Human, an animal, a bug, a tree. They all have this in common. Each one is a closed life system and is ONE thing. So placing God in this box makes you feel better. Because only then can you grasp how you're supposed to act and react to Spirit. Linearizing God helps you to feel what you're supposed to do and when you're supposed to do it. All of the survival attributes that you've learned all your life go into this, and we call it the Human linear bias. God is better understood if it's a man with a beard and a low voice - the authority figure. But Spirit is not like that.

God is not an authority figure, either! Yet many of you will not accept that. "You mean the creator of the Universe is not in charge?" I didn't say that. I said that God is not an authority figure. God is family. If there is any authority energy, then you share it with God, for God is in you. Therefore, YOU are the authority figure.

There is no protocol, either! Did you hear me? There is no generic protocol! Thousands of years of religion have created thousands of "rules" of how to "get God's favor." What if none of that is so? Let me ask you something: If you wanted to talk to your own body's cellular structure, what's the protocol? If it's you with you, how do you start? Should you dress up a bit, kneel, prepare yourself? Do you invent something, some framework of motions, so it will work better? Or do you simply go inside with your mind, talk to that which you own, and work the puzzle out? Do you see what I mean? Humans never consider God in them. Instead, they wish to separate God. They wish to elevate God and put Spirit on the altar where they can face it and perhaps even create a statue so they can visualize who to talk to. That is humanizing God.  …”

Probe: Bad judgment in military school Islam class

Associated Press, by Pauline Jelinek, Jun. 20, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) — Poor judgment and poor oversight led to the teaching of anti-Islamic material at a military school for officers, the Pentagon said Wednesday

Though an Army lieutenant colonel who taught the class has been relieved of his teaching duties, investigators recommended reviewing the actions of two civilian officials at the school to see if they also should face discipline, the Defense Department said in a statement. A second military officer will receive counseling.

Materials in a course for military officers at Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Va., portrayed the U.S. as at war with Islam. That's an idea counter to repeated assertions by U.S. officials that the war being fought by America is one against terrorists.

Some of the material suggested the U.S. ultimately might have to obliterate the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia without regard for civilian deaths, following World War II precedents of the nuclear attack on Hiroshima, Japan, or the allied firebombing of Dresden, Germany.

The teacher, Lt. Col. Matthew Dooley, also suggested that the Geneva Convention, which guides behavior toward prisoners, was "no longer relevant" and that Muslims "hate everything you stand for."

The Pentagon suspended the course in late April when a student objected to the material. The FBI also changed some agent training last year after discovering that its curriculum, too, was critical of Islam.

The new findings come from a report sought by chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Gen. Martin Dempsey. He had ordered all service branches to review their training to ensure that other courses don't use anti-Islamic material and that procedures are in place to screen course content. The report itself has not been released, but the conclusions were described by Dempsey's spokesman, Marine Col. Dave Lapan, in a written statement to the media and later in a conversation with Pentagon reporters.

Lapan said the intent of the inflammatory material was to be provocative — "to be something to stimulate discussion and challenge people's beliefs and generate academic discussion," he said. But briefing slides used in the class, for instance, did not explain that.

"The flaw was that it didn't clearly define that it was meant to be provocative," Lapan said.

The recently completed review found that issues with approving curricula, presentations and guest lecturers only existed at Joint Forces Staff College, and only in that particular course, Lapan.

The inquiry into the elective course, called "Perspectives on Islam and Islamic Radicalism," found there were "institutional failures in oversight and judgment" that allowed the course to be modified over time in a way that left out instruction on U.S. counterterrorism strategy and policy. Somewhere along the line, it adopted "a teaching methodology that portrayed Islam almost entirely in a negative way," Lapan said.

Guest lecturers were increased, materials were added and that inadvertently created the problem, Lapan said. He stressed that it "was not purposeful," adding that a better system of student feedback might have caught the problem sooner.

Dooley was removed from his teaching job this year. Lapan said he is due for a routine transfer to another assignment in August.

Among other recommendations are that the course should be redesigned to include aspects of U.S. policy, and that the course should rely less on outside instruction. The report suggested changing the school's system for reviewing and approving course curricula.

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manuals (RT.com)

Senators blast FBI's anti-Muslim manuals

'Mohammed was a cult leader': FBI teaches agents that 'mainstream’ Muslims are violent and radical

"Healing the Military Energies in our family Tree" – Jun 13, 2011 (Kryon channelled by David Brown)

“ … There’s much violence and anger throughout the world; when we look at the Middle East, we can see that changes are coming there. The West has a lot of power over the Middle East, but that power will begin to dissolve. The Muslim people of this world will begin to have their own power, and their own prosperity, and they will begin to disconnect from the Western World. This disconnection doesn’t have to be violent as violence only happens when somebody hangs onto what doesn’t belong to them....

... What Military Energy means if we use an analogy: it would be like putting grinding paste into the oil of your motor car. Once you release these energies you will begin to feel lighter as you disconnect from this reality, and, you will find it easier and easier to release any other negative emotions. Military Energies are the core of all your problems...."

"The End of History" – Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Muhammad, Jesus, God, Jews, Arabs, EU, US, Israel, Iran, Russia, Africa, South America, Global Unity,..... etc.) (Text version)

".... If an Arab and a Jew can look at one another and see the Akashic lineage and see the one family, there is hope. If they can see that their differences no longer require that they kill one another, then there is a beginning of a change in history. And that's what is happening now. All of humanity, no matter what the spiritual belief, has been guilty of falling into the historic trap of separating instead of unifying. Now it's starting to change. There's a shift happening...."

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