The Sultan of Brunei has announced the first phase of enforcement of strict Sharia law in the nation.
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, an absolute dictator in the nation, said that he had no choice under Islam to put the Sharia law into effect.
The first phase of the implementation will include fines and jail terms for offenses such as missing Friday prayers or an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. The second phase will include the severing of limbs if convicted of robbery or theft, and stoning to death for adultery.
The Sultan has called Islam a “firewall” against globalization.
The move is causing unrest and dissent in the country. The new law will also allow the government to give jail terms or sentences of flogging to anyone who challenges the leader or makes any comment the government feels is disparaging toward the Sultan.
Critics worldwide say the move is a move to brutality.
“It’s a huge step back for human rights in Brunei and totally out of step with the 21st century,” Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch told The Guardian.
Britain’s Prime Minister has announced that the UK will be the first non-Muslim country to issue an Islamic bond.
David Cameron also announced at the World Islamic Economic Forum that a new Islamic index would be introduced on the London Stock Exchange.
Under Islamic rules, no interest on business dealings can be charged and no transaction can involve anything forbidden under Sharia law like alcohol or gambling.
“I don’t just want London to be a great capital of Islamic finance in the Western world, I want London to stand alongside Dubai as one of the great capitals of Islamic finance anywhere in the world,” Cameron told the WIFE.
The British Treasury said they hope to launch the Islamic bond next year.
A video posted on the website of Women’s Rights National Historical Park shows American Muslim students blaming hatred against their faith on the 9/11 attacks, called Islam a pioneer in women’s rights and addressed what they called “general ignorance.”
The video is quoted as saying “Islam within itself, Islam itself means peace. Islam brings nothing but peace if you truly look into it.” Continue reading →
A second night of violence by Islamists angry over a French government ban on Muslim face veils burned at least 20 cars and led to four arrests.
A police official told reporters that at least 50 Islamists were involved, firing weapons at police. At least one assailant threw a gasoline bomb at police officers. Continue reading →
A mother and her two daughters, one only 17, were killed by the woman’s stepson after he saw a video of the daughters laughing on the front porch of their home.
The stepson considered it to be a violation of the family’s honor to have the two young women laughing with small children outside the home. The killer belongs to a sect of Islam where women are not allowed to be seen anywhere except by male relatives.
The BBC found mobile phone footage of the women smiling and laughing in the rain outside the family home with young girls. Apparently an audio recording was also found where one of the young women accepted a gift from an admirer.
The killings came in the same region where last year five young women and two men were brutally murdered after a video was found of them singing and dancing at a wedding.
Human rights advocates say that at least 900 women are killed a year in that region in Muslim “honor killings”.
A team of experts in Timbuktu, Mali examining the damage left in the wake of Islamic terrorist control of the town says early estimates of damage to the city’s history and cultural heritage were grossly underestimated.
The U.N. team said Timbuktu is “completely degraded” that many more of their mausoleums are damaged or destroyed beyond what had been thought before the terrorists were driven out by French and Mali military troops. Continue reading →
A series of advertisements placed on city buses in San Francisco is drawing complaints from those in the city’s Islamic community.
The ads, sponsored by the American Freedom Defense Initiative, carry messages from terrorists such as “Killing Jews is worship that brings us closer to Allah.” Continue reading →
Authorities in New Jersey allege a Muslim man beheaded two Coptic Christians, burying their bodies and heads and hands in separate graves near Philadelphia, bringing the horror of the persecution of Christians in Islamic nations to the United States. Continue reading →
A major leader of Bangladesh’s largest Islamic group has been convicted on war crimes charges related to the country’s 1971 revolution.
Abdul Kader Mullah, 64, has been sentenced to life in prison.
The tribunal found Mullah guilty on five of six charges including murder. Mullah was found to be a leader of the al-Bahr force which Jamaat-e-Islami created in the final days of the war to kidnap, beat and execute intellectuals. Over 200 people were kidnapped and killed by the group. Continue reading →
One of the Islamic groups attempting to take over the Malian government has broken away from the fighting with government troops and is asking for discussions.
The Islamic Movement for Azawad said that it “rejects all forms of extremism and terrorism” that it has completely severed ties with the group fighting the government. Continue reading →
