Headlines:
• Muslims Feel under Threat in Germany following European Attacks
• Austria Passes Reforms to 1912 Islam Law
• Pakistan Demands Cell Phone Users Get Fingerprinted
Muslims Feel under Threat in Germany following European Attacks
Ferid Heider, a young and popular imam in Berlin, began hearing stories of threats and intimidation after three radical gunmen killed 17 people in Paris in a series of attacks last month. They continued as a new attack in Copenhagen raised fears about Islam, again, and anti-terror police raided homes and mosques across Europe. One young woman, who wears a headscarf, told him that after the Paris shootings, a stranger hissed at her on the street that she “should be killed.” Other congregants tell him they feel they have to answer for crimes they didn’t commit. We feel this pressure every day,” Heider said. “The public wants the Muslims to explain themselves or say sorry.” In the wake of the Paris shootings, mosques in France were targeted with gunshots, grenades and graffiti. Pig heads were left outside religious centers—an insult mimicked in Sweden, which has seen a string of arson attacks on mosques since the beginning of the year. Though Germany has been spared such widespread acts of violence, the terrorist attacks in Europe have surfaced undercurrents of hostility toward Muslims here that make them feel like outsiders in their own homes. Heider—a former radical-turned-jovial youth group leader—isn’t bothered by a little scrutiny of his community. In fact, over the years, he has come to see openness as a way forward amid rising tensions in Europe. “We have to open our mosques and talk to people to take the fear and prejudice away,” says Heider, who posts his sermons on Facebook and welcomes anyone into his mosque curious to hear him preach. Many trace the divisions to the 9/11 attacks, which were plotted in the German city of Hamburg. Besides revealing the vulnerability of Western cities to terrorist attacks, they also ignited fears of Muslim communities within those cities. Since then, reports of radical imams, German-born jihadis and terror cells crisscrossing Europe have become fixtures in the German news. Against this backdrop, blogs like ‘Politically Incorrect,’ which bills itself as the “digital cheerleader of Islamophobia,” gained traction while a somewhat more nuanced book about the threat Muslim immigration poses to German identity became a nationwide bestseller. Late last year, tensions spilled onto the streets of Germany in a series of ugly demonstrations against Muslims in the West organized by a group known as Pegida, or the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West. Between 25,000 and 40,000 people marched at one rally in the eastern city of Dresden last month, with middle-aged demonstrators railing against “criminal” Muslims. [Source: Mashable]
The Muslims of Germany must stick together and prevent divisions amongst their ranks. Allah سبحانه وتعالى says:
وَاعْتَصِمُواْ بِحَبْلِ اللّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلاَ تَفَرَّقُواْ
“Hold fast to the rope of Allah all together, and do not separate.”
(3:103)
Austria Passes Reforms to 1912 Islam Law
The Austrian parliament has approved controversial reforms to the country’s century-old Islam Law (Islamgesetz), governing the status of Muslims in the country. The new law, which was passed on February 25, is aimed at integrating Muslims and fighting Islamic radicalism by promoting an “Islam with an Austrian character.” Among other changes, the new law seeks to reduce outside meddling by prohibiting foreign funding for mosques, imams and Muslim organizations in Austria. It also stresses that Austrian law must take precedence over Islamic Sharia law for Muslims living in the country. The Austrian government says the new law is a milestone and could serve as a model for the rest of Europe. But Muslim groups say it is discriminatory and have vowed to challenge it in court. The new law overhauls the original Islam Law, which dates back to 1912. The original law was passed in order to help integrate Muslim soldiers into the Habsburg Imperial Army after the Austro-Hungarian Empire annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1908. The law recognized Islam as an official religion in Austria, and allowed Muslims to practice their religion in accordance with the laws of the state. After the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed in the aftermath of World War I, the number of Muslims in Austria was reduced to just a few hundred people. After World War II, however, Austria’s Muslim population increased rapidly with the arrival of “guest workers” from Turkey and the Balkans in the 1960s, and refugees from Bosnia in the 1990s. According to data compiled by the University of Vienna, the Muslim population in Austria now exceeds 574,000 (or roughly 7% of the total population), up from an estimated 340,000 (or 4.25%) in 2001 and 150,000 (or 2%) in 1990. The massive demographic and religious shift underway in Austria, traditionally a Roman Catholic country, appears irreversible. In Vienna, where the Muslim population now exceeds 12.5%, Muslim students already outnumber Catholic students at middle and secondary schools. Muslim students are also on the verge of overtaking Catholics in Viennese elementary schools. At the same time, Austria has emerged as a major base for radical Islam. A recent report by Austria’s Agency for State Protection and Counterterrorism (BVT) warned of the “exploding radicalization of the Salafist scene in Austria.” Salafism is an anti-Western ideology that seeks to impose Islamic Sharia law. Due to its geographic location, Austria has also become a central hub for European jihadists seeking to fight in Syria. In addition to being a transit point for foreigners going to fight with the Islamic State, at least 190 Austrian citizens have become jihadists in Syria and Iraq. In an interview with Austrian Public Radio Ö1-Morgenjournal, Austria’s Minister for Integration and Foreign Affairs, Sebastian Kurz, said the rapid rise of Islam in Austria has rendered the old Islam Law obsolete. A new law is needed, he said, to stipulate more clearly the rights and responsibilities of Muslims living in the country. The new law, however, goes far beyond what Muslims had wanted. For example, the law seeks to prevent the growth of a parallel Islamic society in Austria by regulating mosques and the training of imams, who will now be required to be proficient in German. The new law also requires Muslim organizations and groups to terminate the employment of clerics who have criminal records or who “pose a threat to public safety, order, health and morals or the rights and freedoms of others.” More significantly, Paragraph 6.2 of the law seeks to limit the religious and political influence of foreign governments within the Austrian Muslim community by prohibiting foreign countries — presumably Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the Arab Gulf states — from financing Islamic centers and mosques in Austria. [Source: GateStone Institute]
Allah سبحانه وتعالى says:
وَلَن تَرْضَى عَنكَ الْيَهُودُ وَلاَ النَّصَارَى حَتَّى تَتَّبِعَ مِلَّتَهُمْ قُلْ إِنَّ هُدَى اللّهِ هُوَ الْهُدَى وَلَئِنِ اتَّبَعْتَ أَهْوَاءهُم بَعْدَ الَّذِي جَاءكَ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ مَا لَكَ مِنَ اللّهِ مِن وَلِيٍّ وَلاَ نَصِيرٍ
“And never will the Jews or the Christians approve of you until you follow their religion. Say, “Indeed, the guidance of Allah is the [only] guidance. If you were to follow their desires after what has come to you of knowledge, you would have against Allah no protector or helper.”
(2:120)
Pakistan Demands Cell Phone Users Get Fingerprinted
Pakistan is telling cellphone users they must register their identities by entering fingerprints in a national database, a move the government sees as a way to combat terrorism but one that has privacy experts wary. Mobile phone users have a deadline this week to match their SIM cards with their fingerprints that will be collected and stored by the government. Officials in Islamabad have said those mobile users who don’t or can’t register their fingerprints and SIM cards by the deadline will have their service cut off. “Subscriber Identity Module” or SIM cards are used by mobile devices to identify specific users and allow them access to their service. But given the enormous size of the task, and the widespread use of mobile phones across Pakistan, that’s increasingly unlikely. While some Pakistanis have been critical of the shortened timeline, they still support the overall goal of fighting terror that is rampant in the country. [Source: Voice of America].
How deluded and dumb-witted the government of Pakistan has become? Unable to provide basic security, electricity, gas, petrol and other amenities to its citizens the government is now threatening to cut telecommunication services…we wonder what is next.
Any sane Pakistani knows that the root cause of terrorism is the presence of America in the region and the continuous interference of Washington in Pakistan’s domestic affairs. Severing ties with America will end terrorism not cutting telecommunication services.