Sri Lankan Muslims cope with anti-Islam sentiments after terror attack

ucanews.com reporter, Colombo 
Sri Lanka 
June 26, 2019

Shamina Bakeer for many years wore a face veil out of modesty, but also because it made her feel more free to travel.Since the terrorist bombing attacks on Easter Sunday that claimed 253 lives, women in Sri Lankan capital Colombo have been subjected to a ban on the public wearing of face coverings.This decision was taken by the government as a security measure to stop perpetrators of violence hiding behind such apparel in the wake of the April attacks that mostly targeted Christians.

Thirty-year-old Shamina, a mother of two, welcomed previously being able to move around without being identified either as an old or young woman.Shamina is a strong believer in strict Islamic requirements in relation to the way women dress. Since the ban came into force, she has not gone out from her home, not even to her local mosque. She has also been forced to suspend teaching at an institute for Muslim women.

Shamina and other women hope the situation will change, but for now she accepts that the ban was imposed for security reasons and not as a form of religious discrimination.Outside Colombo, when visiting relatives, there are even greater pressures to conform to Islamic modesty and in a small community she was instantly recognizable.

FULL ARTICLE FROM UCA NEWS

The Roots of the Christchurch Massacre

All those who have helped to spread the worldwide myth that Muslims are a threat have blood on their hands.

For Muslims, Friday Prayer is like Sunday Mass for Christians. It’s the day of community prayer. We travel to our local mosques, our religious sanctuary. Our families gather in the early afternoon to pray as a community. Kids run through the halls as the imam recites the Quran in Arabic. We eat together and mingle outside.

This week, as those of us in the United States attend Friday Prayer, the Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand, are preparing for funerals.

People around the world are praying for the dead in Christchurch after terrorist attacks at two mosques. The authorities say a 28-year-old Australian walked into two mosques with assault rifles and killed at least 49 people. New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, called it “an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence.”

Thoughts and prayers are not enough. These attacks are the latest manifestation of a growing and globalized ideology of white nationalism that must be addressed at its source — which includes the mainstream politicians and media personalities who nurture, promote and excuse it.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES 

New Zealand mosque attacks and the scourge of white supremacy

Today’s New Zealand mosque shootings, which killed at least 49 people and were allegedly carried out by white supremacists, are only the latest on a long list of recent acts of white supremacist terrorism. Despite the growing and constant threat, Western governments have failed to adequately address the danger of white supremacy.

An abbreviated list of recent acts of white supremacist terrorism includes Robert Gregory Bowers’ killing of 12 Jewish worshippers at a Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2018; Alexandre Bissonnette’s massacre of six Muslims in the Quebec City mosque in 2017; Dylann Roof’s murdering of nine black Christian parishioners in a Charleston, South Carolina church in 2015; and Anders Behring Breivik’s slaughter of 77 people in Norway in 2011.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, numerous other white supremacist plots, including some that planned to kill as many as 30,000 people, have been foiled by law enforcement in the United States. Just last month, the American FBI arrested Christopher Paul Hasson, a white supremacist and lieutenant in the US coastguard, for allegedly plotting terrorist attacks against black and liberal politicians and media personalities.

FULL ARTICLE FROM AL JAZEERA 

Muslim enclave in New York state that was target of alleged foiled attack urges justice

By Associated Press

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A Muslim group called Wednesday for full prosecutions against the four people accused of plotting an attack on the group’s rural enclave named Islamberg in upstate New York.

The arrests of three Rochester-area men and a 16-year-old who had access to homemade explosives and firearms sent shockwaves through the community, The Muslims of America said in a prepared statement. The small community has been dogged by allegations on right-wing websites that it is a terrorist training camp, and it was the target of a similar plot in 2015.

“It is beyond tragic that our nation continues to fester with Islamophobia, hate and religious intolerance,” the group said in a prepared statement. “To bring justice and properly deter similar terrorist plots against our community, we are calling for the individuals charged, as well as their accomplices, to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Vincent Vetromile, 19, of Greece, New York, Brian Colaneri, 20, of Gates, New York and Andrew Crysel of East Rochester, New York, arrested after planning to bomb a Muslim community in upstate New York according to authorities.Greece New York Police Department / via Reuters

Authorities in suburban Rochester on Tuesday announced weapons possession and conspiracy charges against Brian Colaneri, 20; Andrew Crysel, 18; and Vincent Vetromile, 19. A 16-year-old student at Odyssey Academy in Greece, a Rochester suburb, was charged as an adolescent offender.

FULL ARTICLE FROM NBC NEWS

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE ALLEGED PLOT TO BOMB THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY OF ISLAMBERG

A high school student at Odyssey Academy in Greece, New York, just eight miles from Rochester, overheard a troubling conversation in the school’s cafeteria last Friday. Another student was showing a photo to his peers and said something to the effect of “He looks like the next school shooter, doesn’t he?”

The student told school administrators, who passed the tip along to the Greece Police Department.

The tip rapidly expanded into a full-blown investigation that involved the FBI, state police, and local law enforcement from other towns. The next day, after executing search warrants, police arrested the student who’d shown the photo, along with three men between the ages of 18 and 20. They’d stockpiled weapons and explosives, allegedly as part of a plan to bomb Islamberg, a small Muslim community near New York City.

“If they had carried out this plot, which every indication is that they were going to, people would have died,” Greece Police Chief Patrick Phelan told reporters Tuesday. “I don’t know how many and who, but people would have died.”

Phelan also told VICE News that the U.S. Attorney’s office is looking into whether the government should pursue federal charges against the suspects but added that the investigation is still in its early stages.

FULL ARTICLE FROM VICE 

We are fighting terrorism in defence of true Islam

AMMAN – His Majesty King Abdullah has said that the fight against terrorism and extremism Jordan is spearheading is aimed not to please anyone but rather to defend orthodox, true Islam.

In his speech at a ceremony in Washington DC as he accepted 2018 Templeton Prize on Wednesday, His Majesty underlined Jordan’s historic privilege as the land of prophets and its role in maintaining and defending their message of peace and goodness.

Following is the full text of the speech:

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,

Thank you, all.

But I must begin today with a word about those who are highest in my mind today, the Jordanian families who are suffering and grieving in the aftermath of horrific flash flooding in my country.

There are no words strong enough to express my sorrow, the sorrow of all Jordanians, for the human loss caused by the double natural disasters, just weeks apart. And I want to commend to the world the Jordanians who raced to respond, the neighbours and medical teams and rescue units.

Truly, in facing tragedy—whether the deadly floods that struck Jordan or the deadly wildfires that struck California—we are, all of us, bound together in brotherhood. For the victims and their families, in Jordan and in California, I ask you to join me in a moment of silence.

Dean Hollerith, thank you for your warm welcome to the Washington National Cathedral.

Shaykh Hamza, and Professor Volf, and, my dear friend, Secretary General, thank you for your very, very generous words.

And a heartfelt thanks to Heather Templeton Dill, and the entire Templeton family and Foundation. May God reward the late Sir John for his tremendous legacy in affirming life’s spiritual dimension and upholding positive values worldwide. I truly wish I had met Sir John in person, but meeting his family, who are carrying on his work, is meeting the best of what he stood for.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE JORDAN TIMES

Shows like Bodyguard perpetuate Muslim stereotypes. We created the Riz Test to show how dire representation is

Films and television programmes are powerful mediums that are often taken for granted. They are major sources of entertainment and escapism, as well as often offering educational commentary on society, informing us about ideas and cultures we aren’t familiar with. We are often excited to watch the latest blockbuster summer releases, but if you are Muslim, that excitement also comes with a dose of apprehension.

Muslims see time and time again how carelessly or intentionally film and television makers bandy around stereotypes about Muslim communities. The ways in which Muslims are represented in films and in television are shocking. And this is why we need the Riz Test.

The Riz Test is defined by five criteria: If the film stars at least one character who is identifiably Muslim (by ethnicity, language or clothing) – is the character…

1. Talking about, the victim of, or the perpetrator of Islamist terrorism?

2. Presented as irrationally angry?

3. Presented as superstitious, culturally backwards or anti-modern?

4. Presented as a threat to a Western way of life?

5. If the character is male, is he presented as misogynistic? Or if female, is she presented as oppressed by her male counterparts? If the answer for any of the above is yes, then the film/show fails the test. Simple.

It should be easy for most films to pass, right? Wrong.

FULL ARTICLE FROM METRO.CO.UK (UK)