Far-right march provokes riot in Israeli Arab town

Young Arab demonstrators have rioted and attacked the police in Umm Al-Fahm, Israel, after a march on the outskirts of the town by around 100 far-right Jewish Israeli activists bearing Israeli flags. The Jewish marchers were protected by 2,500 policemen. The Arab counter-demonstration was largely peaceful, but the rioters injured 15 policemen. The right-wing march was partly organised by Baruch Marzel, the leader of the banned anti-Arab Kach movement.

A marcher named Michael Ben-Ari said, "All we are doing is waving the Israeli flag. All we are demanding is loyalty to the state.... The State of Israel is the Jewish people's state. We are here to voice our truth and not to create provocations."

However, views such as those expressed by Ben-Ari are seen by Arab Israelis as racist. According to Jamal Zahalka, the leader of the Israeli Arab Balad party and a member of the Knesset, "Racism is not freedom of expression, it's a criminal act and the law should punish it."

Jewish leaders from towns around Umm Al-Fahm have also condemned the march. Some Jews joined the Arab counter-demonstration (BBC).

So the remnants of Kach seem to be taking a page out of the book of the Orange Order. Not the best path to be going down, certainly, unless they actually want to turn Israel proper into another Northern Ireland.

China holds 93 Buddhist monks in Qinghai

Following a pro-independence riot in which about 100 people attacked Chinese policemen and government officials in the ethnically Tibetan town of La'gyab in Qinghai Province, the government arrested approximately 93 Tibetan Buddhist monks.

Apparently, the riot began when a pro-independence Tibetan monk escaped from prison. According to Chinese authorities, the monk is still at large. According to a Tibetan website, however, he has committed suicide. A further two laypeople are also being held under arrest (BBC).

Carpet intended for Prophet's (pbuh) grave up for auction

Sotheby's is planning to auction off a carpet once intended to adorn the grave of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The carpet was commissioned in the 1860s by the Maharaja of Baroda (present-day Vadodara, Gujarat, India). Its name, the Pearl Carpet of Baroda, comes from the fact that it is encrusted with about "two million natural seed pearls" from the Persian Gulf.

The Maharaja's death put an end to plans to send the carpet to the Prophet's (pbuh) grave. The carpet travelled from India to Monaco, and is now housed in Qatar.

Bidding is to start at US $5 million (C $6.2 million), but Sotheby's is predicting that the carpet could sell for up to US $20 million (C $24.8 million) (BBC).

In life, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) slept on a straw mat or a leather mattress stuffed with fibre. Living a life of humility and simplicity was his conscious choice. God alone knows, but I very much doubt the Prophet would have approved of the decoration of his tomb with literally millions of pearls. So I'm glad that this carpet is being treated as a work of art, rather than a religious object. And I'm certainly glad that it never did end up at the Prophet's graveside.

Greyhound killer not culpable due to delusions

Vince Li, the 40-year-old Chinese immigrant who beheaded fellow Greyhound bus passenger Tim McLean, 22, near Portage La Prairie, Manitoba last year, has been found not criminally responsible for the act. Li claimed to psychiatrists who evaluated him that he had heard the voice of God tell him that McLean must be killed. When he was arrested after a standoff with police, Li reportedly told them, "I'm guilty, please kill me." Li has been found to be suffering from schizophrenia. He has been committed to a psychiatric institution in Manitoba, and can be released only once a board determines that he no longer poses a threat to the public (CBC).

This wasn't the first time Li, a Baptist, heard the voice of God; in fact, he told his wife Ana back in 2004 that he had seen God. In 2005, Li thought God's voice instructed him to walk from Toronto to Winnipeg (a distance of 1,518 km). Eventually, the police picked him up and took him to a psychiatric clinic in Toronto.

Li told a psychiatrist that "God choose me to kill him.... God choose my hand to kill, I truly believe that.... But sometimes I ask God why he picked me to do these things. I'm an average person. I still trust God. God is 90-99 percent good" (Ottawa Citizen).

What a tragic story. The Portage Daily Graphic/Central Plains Herald-Leader (seriously long-name for twin small-town newspapers) ran an editorial saying that Li should be jailed once the treatment for his schizophrenia is complete. First of all, what guarantee is there that Li will ever recover sufficiently to be released? Secondly, what Tara Seel of the Herald-Leader doesn't seem to appreciate is that Li clearly wasn't sane when he committed this horrible act. You can't blame someone for doing something unless he knew what he was doing. It's simple logic. It's also simple justice. Punishing a sick man is no solution to the pain of McLean's family, which must be deep indeed. I think the Manitoba justice system took exactly the right course of action in this case.

Two years!

Notes on Religion is now two years old.

Thank you, everyone, for visiting, reading and commenting, and I hope you keep coming back.

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Visitor profiles, 15 February to 14 March 2009

Welcome to the sixteenth installment of Notes on Religion visitor profiles!

This month (15 February to 14 March 2009):

This month, Notes on Religion received 952 visits.

Visitors came to Notes on Religion from every inhabited continent, alhamdu lillah. The majority of visitors (61%) came from the United States. Canada was next with 11%, while the United Kingdom came third with 6%. In sha' Allah, I'll quote all monetary amounts (if any are discussed) in US dollars along with Canadian dollars over the coming month.

In the US, the largest number of visitors (14%) came from California.

In Canada, 14% of the visitors' ISPs were in Quebec.

The vast majority of visitors this past month (81%) were referred to Notes on Religion by Google. The most common Google search term that brought visitors to the blog was 'nazi beheading video'.

The most popular browser this month was Internet Explorer (52%). 91% of the visitors were Windows users.

Since the founding of the blog (15 March 2007 to 14 March 2009):

The total number of visitors during these two years was 6,938. The average number of visitors was nine per day.

The largest number of visitors (47%) came from the United States. The second-highest number (17%) came from here in Canada. The United Kingdom came third with 8%.

In the US, the largest number of visitors (14%) came from California.

Quebec accounted for 39% of the visitors' ISPs within Canada.

The biggest proportion of visitors (49%) was referred to the blog by Google. The most common search term entered by visitors who were referred to Notes on Religion by Google was 'russian neo nazi beheading'.

The most popular browser was Internet Explorer (47%). 90% of the visitors were Windows users.

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Now playing: Philip Pickett: New London Consort - Non E Gran Causa
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Over 800 sex abuse claims against Catholic Church in US last year

According to the Roman Catholic Church in the US, there were over 800 claims of sexual abuse of parishioners by clergy submitted in 2008. This number represents a 16% increase over the 2007 level. In 2008, the Catholic Church paid out US $436 million (C $555 million) to settle the claims. Most of these funds went towards compensating victims.

Approximately a fifth of the victims were children under ten years of age when the abuse occurred.

According to Francis Cardinal George, the Catholic Archbishop of Chicago, the Church was "on the right path" in its aim to ensure the protection of "all children in society" (BBC).

This is obviously a serious problem. It's not my place to tell the Church how to overcome its own shortcomings, but perhaps this calls for a married clergy.

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BBC's Simpson displays prejudices on Iraq

In an article on Tariq Aziz, who has recently been sentenced to 15 years in prison for his contribution to the execution of 42 Iraqi flour merchants in 1992, the BBC's long-serving correspondent John Simpson has made two statements that I find quite surprising because of the outright prejudices contained in them.

First of all, according to Simpson, "although [Aziz] comes from a Christian family, this is a matter of historical chance rather than an indication of his opinions." This statement is, obviously, problematic on a number of levels. Would Simpson say this of a British politician with an unsavoury reputation? Would he take the pains to point out that such-and-such European or North American politician was born into a Christian family and had then gone astray? Moreover, what does it mean to say that the fact that he's a Christian is no indication of his opinions? Can Simpson tell us what opinions a Christian, as understood by him, does hold or should hold? Can he tell us which is the Christian opinion: invading Iraq as the Christians Bush and Blair did, or not invading it, as several different churches (including the Catholic Church, to which Aziz belongs, and which later accepted Blair into its fold) urged? Are Bush and Blair not Christians? If they are, why is Tariq Aziz any less a Christian? And, further, is Simpson trying to say here that Aziz's Baath Party membership would have been more understandable had he come from a Muslim family? If he is saying that, what is that but a calumny?

Secondly, according to Simpson, "Tariq Aziz changed his name from Mikhail Yuhanna... to something much more Arab-sounding, in order to fit in better with his Baathist colleagues". Now, pray tell me, what is not "Arab-sounding" about the name Mikhail Yuhanna? Again, it seems that Simpson is trying to equate "Arab" and "Muslim", and to try to portray the Christians as an anomaly in the Arab world. The fact is, Christian Arabs were present in the Middle East long before the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had been born. Mikhail Yuhanna is certainly not a non-Arab-sounding name. On the other hand, it is an identifiably Christian name. By renaming himself Tariq Aziz, Yuhanna did not Arabise his name; he secularised it. There is a big difference between the two, which a man of John Simpson's experience ought to be aware of.

Kadyrov bribing parents to name their sons Muhammad

The pro-Russian president of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has announced that boys born tonight will receive 50,000 rubles (C$ 1,796 / US$ 1,398) from the Akhmad Kadyrov Fund, as a way to mark the Prophet Muhammad's (pbuh) birthday. In exchange, Kadyrov said he would "ask" the boys' parents to name their newborn sons Muhammad.

Kadyrov is also planning to distribute 5,000 rubles each to 10,000 poor Chechens. Furthermore, the Prophet's (pbuh) birthday is being marked with the distribution of flour and sugar to the poor, along with special prayers and fireworks in major Chechen cities (Белорусские новости).

What can I say? It's somewhat pathetic when a dictator as brutal as Kadyrov starts playing the religion card. Kadyrov can't even distribute charity without interfering in as personal a decision as naming one's child. I don't think he's fooling anyone, though, neither with his construction of the largest mosque in Europe, nor with his latest gimmick.

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Now playing: Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water [Live]
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Illinois pastor murdered

Pastor Fred Winters of the First Baptist Church in Maryville, Illinois has been shot dead inside his church by a man who stabbed himself after the attack. The suspect has been arrested (BBC).

Yet another reasons, if one were needed, to take guns off the streets.

The Prophet's birthday (peace be upon him)

The 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal, according to Sunni Muslims, is the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). This year, the date corresponds to the 8th or 9th of March.

May the peace and blessings of God be on His last messenger.

Muslims (finally) part of the American family

This will probably come as no surprise, but my favourite part about Obama's inauguration speech was the line "We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers." Something like this would have been nice during the campaign, coming from Obama himself, and not just Colin Powell (although I certainly admire Powell for what he said). Now, though, Obama has righted a significant campaign wrong. The word "Muslim" is thus no longer a "smear"; it is part of what the US is.

My second favourite line was, "To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect." And as part of the launch of this "new way forward", in his interview to Al Arabiya, Obama said "America is a country of Muslims, Jews, Christians, non-believers", moving the Muslims into first place. This is not to say that the Muslims must have precedence in lists; rather, my point is obviously that delegitimising the Americanness of Muslim Americans has just got a lot harder.

It's certainly too early to say that American Muslims have "arrived", but it's a good start. It makes me happy for my American Muslim wife, but also for Muslims in the West in general, as well as for the US, which, it seems, is indeed on its way to building a "more perfect union".

[This is my 300th post on Notes on Religion.]

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Now playing: Cat Stevens - Father And Son
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Today we are all Palestinians

Today was the 16th day of Israel's murderous Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip. In order to stop Hamas and other rockets that, over the last several years, have killed 13 Israelis (including three children), the Israeli government has, to date, killed over 800 Palestinians. According to Palestinian Ministry of Health figures accepted by the UN, as of 8 January, the Israeli offensive had killed 257 children and 56 women. And who knows how many of the men killed by Israel were civilians? So who is the terrorist?

I am certainly not taking any kind of ambiguous stance towards the killing of civilians. When Hamas or another Palestinian militant group kills even one Israeli civilian, that is wrong. But what happens when Israel blatantly kills hundreds of Palestinian civilians in a few days? When are we all going to admit that an innocent Palestinian life is just as precious as an Israeli one? When are we going to proclaim loudly that killing a hundred Palestinians is no less evil than killing one Israeli?

As we are told by our Creator in the Qur'an,

We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people (Qur'an, 5:32; Abdullah Yusuf Ali's interpretation).

This is something that Hamas would do well to remember. But, in the current circumstances, these words from the sacred text of Islam apply especially to those who are mentioned in them in the first place. Over the years, the thing that has angered me the most about Hamas is their refusal to draw a distinction between the Israeli armed ("defence") forces and Israeli civilians. According to Hamas's logic, since most Israelis, at one time or another, serve in the armed forces, they are all legitimate military tactics. This interpretation, IMHO, very clearly runs counter to the long-established Islamic tradition of limiting warfare to clear military targets. However, Israel, which, despite its occupation of Palestine, has, for decades, been claiming the moral high ground on the issue of terrorism, is now, quite obviously, deliberately targeting Palestinian civilians in order to make Hamas look bad in the eyes of its civilian supporters.

This is an exceedingly slippery slope. Pretty much the only sympathy Israel enjoys outside the US is related to its civilians coming under attack every once in a while from Palestinian extremists. It has now proven that it is willing to do the same to the Palestinians, and on a massively higher scale. It may well be that the only well wishers Israel will have left if it continues down this path are going to be American Republicans.

Meanwhile, the mood on the streets of the world is decidedly pro-Palestinian. A demonstration here in Montréal, which my wife and I attended yesterday, drew "almost 10,000 people" according to the normally pro-Israeli Gazette. This time around, even the Gazette looked decidedly pro-Palestinian. And in London, somewhere between 4,000 and 15,000 pro-Israeli, largely Jewish, demonstrators, demanded a cessation of hostilities.

Olmert said to the Israeli Cabinet today that "Israel is nearing the goals which it set itself." If that goal is the destruction of Hamas, Israel has, in fact, taken a step back. If it is a secure future for Israel, Olmert has taken one giant leap back. One can only hope that he'll come to his senses.

Extreme rightists attack Muslims in Christmas message

The fringe right-wing website Tulsa Today, which claims to be a "local news service", has made use of its alleged Christmas greeting to label Islam "the only modern faith founded by a murderer." This is a website, mind you, that was noted for continuing to claim as late as 24 November that Obama was not a "natural born" US citizen.

So why would I bother to comment on the ravings of a site which has nothing to do with "news", local or otherwise? Well, because ridiculous claims such as these can, unfortunately, be insidious and persisting. If repeated a sufficient number of times, they acquire the air of general knowledge.

So I think it's important to say, to those who would sully their own holiday with venom against another religion: Shame on you.

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Now playing: Jaromír Nohavica - Dokud Se Zpívá
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Happy Hanukkah!

I'd like to wish all my Jewish readers a happy Hanukkah. May the candles you light in celebration remind us of the light of monotheism bestowed on Jews and Muslims alike.

Earlier this month, my wife and I visited the Shaare Zion synagogue here in Montreal for an informative and entertaining evening, where Jewish, Christian and Hindu speakers discussed their respective winter holidays associated with light -- Hanukkah, Advent and Diwali -- and the synagogue's cantor, Boaz Davidoff, led his band in some exciting Hanukkah music in Hebrew and English. We need more of this sort of event, I tell you.
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Now playing: North Sea Gas - Will Ye No Come Back Again
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Merry Christmas!

A merry Christmas to all my Christian readers!

Last week at the mosque the imam reminded us of the Islamic story of the birth and infancy of Jesus Christ (peace be upon him). It is related in the Qur'an, in verses 19:16-36. This holiday is certainly a time to remember how much Muslims and Christians share, both in beliefs and in the call to perform good deeds and strive for justice.

Meanwhile, here are some pictures of Christmas celebrations at the place where it all reportedly began, Bethlehem (from the Louisville Courier-Journal).

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Now playing: Orpheus Chamber Orchestra - Handel: Water Music Suite #1 In F, HWV 348 - Ouverture
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Visitor profiles, 15 November to 14 December 2008

Welcome to the fifteenth installment of Notes on Religion visitor profiles!

This month (15 November to 14 December 2008):

This month, Notes on Religion received 359 visits.

Visitors came to Notes on Religion from every inhabited continent, alhamdu lillah. The largest number of visitors (38%) came from the United States. Canada was next with 18%, while the United Kingdom came third with 8%. In sha' Allah, I'll quote all monetary amounts (if any are discussed) in US dollars along with Canadian dollars over the coming month.

In the US, the largest number of visitors (14%) came from New York.

In Canada, 22% of the visitors' ISPs were in Quebec.

The largest number of visitors this past month (45%) were referred to Notes on Religion by Google. The most common Google search term that brought visitors to the blog was 'russian neo-nazi beheading video'.

The most popular browser this month was Firefox (48%). 89% of the visitors were Windows users.

Since the founding of the blog (15 March 2007 to 14 December 2008):

The total number of visitors during the year and ten months was 5,094. The average number of visitors was eight per day. A big thank you to everyone who visited and took this blog above the 5,000 hit mark!

The largest number of visitors (44%) came from the United States. The second-highest number (19%) came from the Canada. The United Kingdom came third with 7%.

In the US, the largest number of visitors (14%) came from California.

Quebec accounted for 44% of the visitors' ISPs within Canada.

The biggest proportion of visitors (41%) was referred to the blog by Google. The most common search term entered by visitors who were referred to Notes on Religion by Google was 'neo nazi beheading'.

The most popular browser was Firefox (46%). 90% of the visitors were Windows users.

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Blair explains conversion delay

Tony Blair has explained why he decided to defer his conversion to Catholicism until he left office. In his view, discussing religion while he was prime minister would have entailed the danger of people calling him a "nutter". He added, "Maybe I was too sensitive... but I just came to the conclusion that if I started talking about God it was going to be difficult."

Before becoming a Catholic in 2007, Blair had attended Catholic services for 25 years. Moreover, he had brought his children up as Catholics (BBC).

There's not much about Blair's words that is surprising. Certainly, there is a great deal of intolerance in Britain to public discussion of religious beliefs. However, why would Blair necessarily have had to talk about his conversion publicly? People already knew very well where his sympathies lay. I think that, beyond religion being a difficult issue to address in British politics, it's a question of the country not being ready for a Catholic prime minister. I think that one day the UK will travel the road the US did decades ago with John F. Kennedy, but the time, I suppose, is not ripe yet.

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Olmert calls attack on Palestinias a "pogrom"

Ehud Olmert has declared the recent rampage by Israeli Jewish settlers in Hebron a "pogrom". At a meeting of the Israeli Cabinet, Olmert told his ministers,

As a Jew, I was ashamed at the scenes of Jews opening fire at innocent Arabs in Hebron. There is no other definition than the term 'pogrom' to describe what I have seen. We are the sons of a nation who know what is meant by a pogrom, and I am using the word only after deep reflection.

Olmert also described a settler riot in a Palestinian village in October as a pogrom (BBC).

Meanwhile, one of the Jewish settlers suspected of taking part in the Hebron rampage, Zeev Braudeh, has been released from custody after an Israeli court in Jerusalem ordered the police to let him go. Braudeh is suspected of shooting at two Palestinian stone-throwers, injuring them. The court called the actions of the Israeli police, which had arrested Braudeh but not the stone-throwers, "blatant discrimination" (AFP).

It's obvious that the attitude of the Israeli courts will take a while to catch up to that of Olmert. If arresting an aggressor and not arresting a defender of one's land is discrimination according to this particular court, then the police are certainly showing themselves to be much more enlightened than the court.

Eid mubarak!

I'd like to wish all the Muslims of the world a blessed Eid. Eid al-Adha commemorates the readiness of the Prophet Abraham (pbuh) to sacrifice his son (pbuh) to God, and the willingness of his son to be sacrificed to God. When the two prophets had proven their faith and devotion, a ram was sacrificed instead. May this lesson of obedience to God inspire us always.

Since this story, in its essential features, is shared by Muslims, Christians and Jews, I would like to extend my best wishes to the People of the Book on this joyous occasion.

Here's an excellent article from Gulf News (ma sha' Allah), explaining the meaning and origin of Eid al-Adha.