Prague: International conference on Islamic banking

Prague: International conference on Islamic banking

Via Radio Praha:

Islamic banking is today the fastest growing segment of the financial system, and is also considered a more honest and fairer alternative to conventional banking. Cihad Erginay is the Turkish ambassador to Prague, and head of the local group of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation which organized the event.

“There was great interest on the subject from our Czech colleagues, Czech bankers and journalists who kept asking us about it and expressed their interest because they saw that Islamic banks were not as affected by the economic crisis that we see today. That led us to think that it could be interesting to organize such a conference. And as you can see from the participation, there is great interest in the subject.”  

(source)

CR: Charges filed in first terrorism trial

CR: Charges filed in first terrorism trial

Via Czech Position:

Charges of supporting terrorism have been filed in a Czech court for the first time in recent history against three suspects from the Russian republic of Dagestan and one from Moldava, according to a court spokesman.

(...)

The suspects were part of a bigger group detained in Prague and Berlin last year which is believed to have links with Jamaat Shariat — an organization that seeks to establish an Islamic state under Sharia Law in Russia’s North Caucasus region.

(source)

Prague: Syrian community protests against Assad's regime

Prague: Syrian community protests against Assad's regime

About 30 people gathered in Prague's centre Friday to protest against the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad and present an improvised exhibition of photos of victims of the people's revolution in Syria.

CR: Jewish groups protest promotion of intolerance

CR: Jewish groups protest promotion of intolerance

Via the Prague Daily Monitor:

The Jewish Federations' Community, the Prague Jewish Community and the Jewish Museum yesterday protested against what they called fomenting of intolerance in the Czech Republic in reaction to a speech Czech Muslim Lukas Vetrovec has given in the mosque in Brno.

An audio with the speech has appeared on the Internet.

Brno: Muslims celebrate end of Ramadan in hotel

Brno: Muslims celebrate end of Ramadan in hotel

Via the Prague Monitor:

About 400 Muslims based in the Czech Republic Tuesday celebrated the end of the holy month of Ramadan in the conference hall of the International Hotel because their mosque was too small for them, Munib Hasan, head of the Islamic Foundation in Brno, said Tuesday.

Last year, the Muslims had to rent a basketball hall in Brno for their prayers.

Hasan said a new mosque is needed in Brno.

(source)

CR: Former PM sued over statements on Islam

CR: Former PM sued over statements on Islam

Via the Prague Monitor:

Retired politician Milos Zeman, Czech prime minister in 1998-2002, faces a criminal complaint over the statements on Islam he made in June at an international conference on Europe.

"The enemy is the anti-civilisation spreading from North Africa to Indonesia. Two billion people live in it and it is financed partly from oil sales and partly from drug sales," Czech news servers quoted Zeman as saying about Islam at the recent conference.

(source)

Prague: Central European Muslim leaders lament restrictive legislation, media bias

Prague: Central European Muslim leaders lament restrictive legislation, media bias

Via Radio Prague:

Muslim leaders from the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia came to Prague on Tuesday to share their experiences and to discuss the challenges faced by their communities. The numbers of the Muslim populations in their countries vary significantly, as do their historic backgrounds. But the debate showed that some challenges are shared by Muslims across the region: islamophobia, media bias, and severe legislative restrictions.

(source + podcast)

CR: Six arrested for operating base for Caucasus terrorists

CR: Six arrested for operating base for Caucasus terrorists

Via the Moscow Times:

Four Russians and two Bulgarians suspected of supporting a militant group operating in Dagestan have been arrested in the Czech Republic, police said Tuesday.

The six are suspected of providing fake documents, ammunition and weapons to the Jamaat Shariat group, said police spokesman Pavel Hantak. Two other suspects are being held in Germany, and Hantak said the investigation is still under way.

Also known as Dagestani Front, Jamaat Shariat is a small group of Islamist militants active in Dagestan as part of the Caucasus Imarat — a loose alliance of separatists operating in the Caucasus region.

The six foreigners taken into custody in Prague and other areas of the Czech Republic were arrested during April 6 police raids that also seized fake bank notes and documents, drugs, ammunition and weapons including machine guns, Hantak said.

(source)

CR: 75% of Czechs oppose building mosques

CR: 75% of Czechs oppose building mosques

75.2% of the Czechs side with President Vaclav Klaus and oppose building mosques in the Czech Republic, according to a poll by research agency SANEP. The survey shows this is mostly due to concerns about rising crime and terrorism.

Czechs are the most atheistic in Europe, but 76.2% believe their country should be based on Christian values and culture.

Source: ParlamentniListy (Czech)

CR: Arousal test used on gay asylum seekers

CR: Arousal test used on gay asylum seekers

Via Pink Paper:

An EU agency has condemned Czech authorities for using a sexual arousal test on asylum seekers who claim to be gay.

The process, called phallometric testing, involves measuring sexual arousal by monitoring blood flow into the penis. In this case gay asylum seekers are shown heterosexual pornography to see if they get an erection.

If the claimant becomes aroused, their chances of asylum become less likely.

(source)

CR: Ten Muslim weddings a year

CR: Ten Muslim weddings a year

Via Prague Monitor:

About ten couples have a Muslim wedding in the Czech Republic every year, Vladimir Sanka, director of the Islamic Centre in Prague, has told CTK, adding that most of the couples are foreigners but there are also Czechs who have adopted the Islamic faith.


For a Muslim marriage to be legal, the couple must have a civilian wedding first, Sanka said.

Prague: Al-Yaman releases new album

Prague: Al-Yaman releases new album


The band Al-Yaman, meaning Yemen in Arabic, was the outcome of a meeting between two distant worlds: Czech musician and music producer Aleš Hyvnar and Ashwaq Abdulla Kulaib, a Yemeni woman who has lived in Prague since the fall of communism. This unlikely connection led to their first CD in 2004, and they have since performed at clubs and festivals in the Czech Republic and beyond. In their second album Insanyya, the pair created a more complex and elaborate fusion of the two worlds.


(...)


Ashwaq Abdulla Kulaib came to Prague to study just in time to see the aftermath of the Velvet Revolution. She majored in journalism and political science at Prague’s Charles University but always planned to return to her homeland.


“I never thought I would stay here, that I’d be a singer, or that I’d have a family here. I thought I’d only come here to study and go back. For Yemeni women, it’s not very usual to go study abroad, particularly to Europe. For most families it’s impossible to send their daughters abroad. Maybe boys, yes, but not girls. But my mum supported me in this, it was a kind of a woman to woman thing. She knew I wanted to go. My father was against it of course, but we won, the ladies won.”


(...)


One reason why the lead singer, flute player and lyrics writer Ashwaq Abdulla Kulaib stayed in Prague was her family. Compared with western Europe, however, the Czech Republic has very low immigration levels, and Ashwaq she says it’s sometimes been extremely difficult to cope with the Czech attitude to foreigners and Czech racism.


“For me, it’s really difficult when you meet intelligent people who think they are not racist but they are. That’s the worst thing I’ve seen in this country. They say, ‘we are not racist, but we don’t like Gypsies’. I was really shocked when I heard this for the first time.”


Do you reflect this anyhow in your music or in your lyrics?


“Of course. As you know, some of our songs are well-known Arabic songs, and we sing them a little differently. But most of the lyrics are about my experiences and feelings. Not only with racism of course, also about how I feel.”


You sing in Arabic, which is great. But the message does not reach as many people as it would if you sang in English or even Czech… Are you concerned about this at all?


“Sometimes I talk at concerts, you know, between songs I talk to people, but it depends – sometimes you could talk to people the whole night and nothing happens.”


(...)


Mixing western and Arabic music is becoming increasingly popular with fans around the world, including some Middle Eastern countries such as Israel, Lebanon and Turkey. So is this style also popular in Yemen – and what would the Yemenis think of Al-Yaman and their music?


“You know, Yemeni people are conservative. They don’t mix music very much, they still have this really pure Yemeni music, and I love it. And my music in Yemen? I think people would say I’m crazy. Even here people think I am not normal or crazy or whatever. Why not – so I’m crazy.”

More details about the band and their albums can be found at Al-Yaman.cz. And if you are in Prague this month, don’t miss their show featured at the Febiofest film festival on March 27.


(more)

Source: Radio Prague (English)

CR: Muslims equipped with "spiritual" weapons

CR: Muslims equipped with "spiritual" weapons



The European Union has diverted from the Christian foundations on which it was being built and it has got secularised, by which it has opened space to Islamisation, Czech Cardinal Miloslav Vlk says in an interview released on his web page today.


In the interview Vlk, 77, overviews the almost 19 years he has been Prague Archbishop. Pope Benedict XVI is expected to announce his successor on the days ahead.


Vlk says Islam creates pressure on Christians to live their faith to the full.


"Today our continent does not have firm spiritual and moral foundations," Vlk writes.


He says this is not the fault of the European Union, but of Europeans themselves.


"I cannot but confirm that Europe will pay dear for having left its spiritual foundations and that this is the last period that will not continue for decades when it may still have a chance to do something about it," Vlk says.


He says the Muslims are perfectly equipped with "spiritual" weapons that Europe does not have.


"The Muslims definitely have many reasons to be heading here. They also have a religious one - to bring the spiritual values of faith in God to the pagan environment of Europe, to its atheistic style of life," Vlk writes.


(more)

Source: Czech Happenings, h/t le blog laiciste

78% of Czechs, 70% of Slovaks oppose minarets

78% of Czechs, 70% of Slovaks oppose minarets

Of those who want to ban minarets, a large majority (70% among Czechs, 80% among Slovaks) also want to ban mosques. This is actually a lower correlation than results in previous polls that asked both questions (96% among Belgians, 90% among the French).

For more surveys on minaret bans in Europe see:
* Belgium: Majority oppose mosques and minarets
* France: 41% oppose more mosques, 46% oppose minarets
* Austrians oppose minaret ban, Italians want one
* More polls on minaret bans


---------


Most people in the Czech Republic and Slovakia would ban a possible construction of minarets, the daily Lidove noviny (LN) reports Wednesday, referring to a poll conducted by the NMS agency simultaneously in both countries.


(...)


According to the NMS poll conducted on 424 voters in the Czech Republic and 502 in Slovakia, 78 percent of Czech respondents and 70 percent of Slovaks would vote against minarets in a referendum.


Moreover, 54 percent of Czechs and 56 percent of Slovaks would ban the construction of both minarets and new mosques, Tomas Dvorak, from NMS, told LN.


The poll also shows that Czechs and Slovaks mind new mosques less than minarets. Only one-third of the polled strictly oppose mosques, others do not want them only in "their surroundings."


Nevertheless, Muslims in the Czech Republic are not considering building minarets for the time being, LN writes.


Muneeb Hassan, from the Islamic community, said minarets are rather a pretext. "Those who mind Islam and Muslims are against minarets," he told LN.


(more)

Source: Prague Monitor (English), h/t EuropeNews

CR: Anti-mosque demonstration fizzles

CR: Anti-mosque demonstration fizzles


A gathering of supporters of the extreme right National Party in Brno to distribute leaflets warning against what the party termed as "Islamization" was dismissed as a media ploy in the run up to the October election.


Eight party followers met outside the Brno mosque just after 1 p.m. Aug. 29 to protest plans for the construction of a new mosque, though National Party official Jiří Gaudin denied there was ever meant to be a rally.


"There were never any plans for a march," Gaudin said. "We dispersed ourselves in small groups to the neighboring streets and distributed about 2,500 leaflets. The National Party followers responded to some biased and substandard questions from journalists and explained that no march was going to take place because it had not been called in the first place."


Munib Hasan, a spokesman for the Brno Muslim community, said last month that Muslims would like to have a larger building for prayer as the existing place of worship was no longer sufficient for their growing numbers.


"The Brno mosque has been here for years, and, now, we need a bigger space," he said. "There haven't been any problems so far, and I hope there won't be any in the future ... I don't see a reason why anyone should be against a new mosque. There are a number of Muslims living here peacefully. I believe that the National Party is attempting to catch the media's attention before the upcoming election."


There was no incident during the protest.


"We did not particularly notice any demonstrators," Hasan said. "It passed quickly and quietly. There was more media coverage than demonstrators."


(more)


Source: Prague Post (English)

Scandinavian Terrorism

A couple of interesting stories:

A Danish convert to Islam was arrested in Yemen for weapons smuggling (Copenhagen Post)

Czech police report an attempt by three Egyptians to test plane security measures (Aftenposten)

Prague: Synagogue target of planned attack

A couple of days ago LGF reported about Islamophobia in the Czech Republic. 75% of Czechs have negative attitudes towards Islam and 60% are afraid of it.

Now it turns out they have a good reason. Muslims intended to take a synagogue hostage, with all the Jews in it and then blow it up.

Notice how this article is trying to find a reason why Muslims would want to commit a terror attack in the Czech Republic. By telling you that they have forces in Afghanistan and police instructors in Iraq, Reuters is not so subtly hinting that this is the real reason behind the planned murder of dozens of Jews. It does not matter that the terrorists intended to kill their hostages regardless of whether there was any attempt at meeting whatever demands they had in mind.

It should be noted that the Czech Republic is one of Europe's most secular countries. The Muslim population, with about 20,000 is 0.2% of the total population.

Islamic extremists planned to kidnap dozens of Jews in Prague and hold them hostage before murdering them, the daily Mlada Fronta Dnes reported on Friday.

The Czech Republic's leading newspaper quoted unidentified sources close to intelligence agencies as saying the captives would have been held in a Prague synagogue while the captors made broad demands that they knew could not be fulfilled.

When those demands -- which were not specified by the sources -- were not met, the extremists would blow up the building, killing all who were inside, the paper added.

The paper, which gave other few details, did not say whether any arrests were made and did not specify the identities of the extremists.

On September 23 the government deployed armed guards around dozens of buildings and on the streets in the Czech capital after security services issued a warning that an unspecified attack was imminent.

Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek and government officials have since refused to divulge details of what kind of attack they feared in Prague.

"I am not authorized to provide any information in this case," the paper quoted Topolanek as saying when asked about the information given by the sources.

"Concurrent with the government decision, I only continue to insist that the measures and the extent of information supplied to the public were, and are in proportion to the information obtained (by intelligence officials) and to the threat."

The Czech Republic has a small military unit in Afghanistan and military police instructors in Iraq.

Prague's Old Town is the location for the Jewish Quarter where thousands of tourists -- many of them Jews -- flock to see centuries-old synagogues and graves.

The country's once-flourishing Jewish community was decimated during World War Two.
Prague has not been a target of terrorist attacks in the past, although strict security precautions were taken several years ago to protect the downtown headquarters of U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe.

Source: Reuters (English)