MABDA Report 16/4/2011

 France burqa ban comes into force

“Controversial law will mean country with Europe’s biggest Muslim population will no longer allow any public face coveringFrance – home to Europe’s biggest Muslim population on Monday officially banned women from wearing full-face veils in public places.Other European countries have drawn up bans on the burqa and the niqab but France is the first to risk stirring social tensions by putting one into practice.The law comes into effect at an already fraught moment in relations between the state and France’s Muslim minority, with President Nicolas Sarkozy accused of stigmatizing Islam to win back votes from a resurgent far right.”

http://iina.me/wp_en/?p=1002316

Store manager in Missouri refused to sell mattress to veiled Muslim woman ‘for security reasons’

“Syeeda Hussaini has suffered from neck pain the past few years, to the extent that it’s difficult for her to drive and get a good night’s rest. So on a recent weekend, she, her husband, and their three kids loaded up the car and drove less than a mile to Mattress Firm. She said the store manager approached, but oddly didn’t want to help. He told the family that he wouldn’t sell them a mattress for security reasons, she said. Hussaini, 27, who is Muslim, covers all but her hands, feet and eyes in public to show respect for femininity and her religion. She said the manager told her she needed to show her face for service. Mohammad, a pathology resident at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, tried to explain that his wife dressed this way to be modest, much like Catholic nuns. But the manager stomped off, they say.

Hussaini wrote a letter to a regional representative of the company after the March 12 visit to the store. Spokeswoman Sunni Goodman would not comment specifically about the manager, but she confirmed the encounter happened. “As soon as we were informed of the incident, we took appropriate action to address the situation,” she said. The manager no longer works for Mattress Firm.”

Westborough Interfaith Clergy: Clergy respond to Quran burning

“We, who represent a wide spectrum of religious belief, stand firmly together in condemning the recent burning of the Quran by a self-proclaimed minister of the Christian faith in Florida. We view the burning of any sacred text to be a hate crime. Such an incendiary act does not bring God’s love and mercy into the world. Rather, it only serves to fan the flames of mistrust, fear, and destruction of the other. To disagree with another religious perspective is anyone’s prerogative; but to disrespect and destroy the sacred words that are the very foundation of a people’s faith journey can only be for the purpose of hateful provocation. Such blatant intolerance does not represent the essence of all the holy books that seek to bring humanity into a state of grace and enlightenment. Such blatant intolerance does not represent who we are as Christians, Jews, and Unitarian Universalists.”

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinion/x897927499/Westborough-Interfaith-Clergy-Clergy-respond-to-Quran-burning

Norwegian Defence League’s anti-Islam demonstration flops

A sister organziation of The English Defence League, headed by Lena Andressen, held a demonstration against the “Islamic occupation of Norway” organised in Oslo on 9 April . “As Andreassen explained to Aftenposten, that specific date was chosen to mark the German invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940, in order to draw a parallel between the occupation of the country by the Nazis and the current supposed invasion by “extreme Islam”.

“Alas for Andreassen, her Oslo protest turned out to be a farce. It drew between 10 and 15 participants, one of whom was Darren Lee of the EDL, and was reported in Dagbladet under the mocking headline “Søren, det er jo flere pressefolk her enn oss” (translated by Exposing as “Bugger! There’s more journos here than us!”). An anti-racist counter-demonstration, by contrast, was attended by 700 and a thousand people”.

http://www.islamophobia-watch.com/islamophobia-watch/2011/4/14/norwegian-defence-leagues-anti-islam-demonstration-flops.html

Muslim doctors promote harmony with free clinic

“The Mercy Care Clinic was started by a group of local Muslim physicians to provide free health care services in Cincinnati Ohio. It’s based on the model of a free clinic opened in 1996 in California by Muslim doctors. “I think a lot of the American public sees the news and thinks if they see a Muslim that they’re automatically a terrorist,” said Bowling of Anderson Township. The Muslims Bowling knows are dedicated physicians volunteering their time to care for him and providing him with life-saving medicine.”

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110404/NEWS01/304040037/Muslim-doctors-promote-harmony-free-clinic