وَلَنْ تَرْضَىٰ عَنْكَ الْيَهُودُ وَلَا النَّصَارَىٰ حَتَّىٰ تَتَّبِعَ مِلَّتَهُمْ ۗ قُلْ إِنَّ هُدَى اللَّهِ هُوَ الْهُدَىٰ ۗ وَلَئِنِ اتَّبَعْتَ أَهْوَاءَهُمْ بَعْدَ الَّذِي جَاءَكَ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ ۙ مَا لَكَ مِنَ اللَّهِ مِنْ وَلِيٍّ وَلَا نَصِيرٍ

“The Jews and the Christians will never be pleased with you until you follow their religion. Say, ‘Allah’s guidance is the true guidance.’ If you were to follow their whims and desires, after the knowledge that has come to you, you would find no protector or helper against Allah.”

(Al-Baqara, 2:120)

Independent

It’s so distressing when those who are supposed to protect you treat you like a criminal

HANNA YUSUF

I’ve always been aware of the injustices British Muslims face, but I’ve sometimes doubted the narrative of the “Muslim victim”.

سَنُرِيهِمْ آيَاتِنَا فِي الْآفَاقِ وَفِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَهُمْ أَنَّهُ الْحَقُّ ۗ أَوَلَمْ يَكْفِ بِرَبِّكَ أَنَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ شَهِيدٌ

“We will show them Our Signs on the horizon and within themselves until it is clear to them that it is the truth. Is it not enough for your Lord that He is a witness of everything?”

(Fussilat: 53)

The Local

Books on Islam are selling out in France after the deadly extremist attacks in the capital have raised uncomfortable questions about Europe’s fastest-growing religion.

A special magazine supplement focused on the Koran has flown off the shelves, and shops are selling more books on Islam than ever after the Paris attacks in January that left 17 dead.

يُرِيدُونَ أَنْ يُطْفِئُوا نُورَ اللَّهِ بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَيَأْبَى اللَّهُ إِلَّا أَنْ يُتِمَّ نُورَهُ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْكَافِرُونَ

“They desire to extinguish Allah’s Light with their mouths. But Allah refuses to do other than perfect His Light, even though the kafirun detest it.”

(At-Tawba, 32)

Moscow, April 3, Interfax – The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has urged the country’s information technology and media watchdog (Roskomnadzor) to limit access to websites that support the activities of the Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami terrorist organization, Prosecutor’s Office spokesperson Marina Gridneva told Interfax on Friday.

مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ رِجَالٌ صَدَقُوا مَا عَاهَدُوا اللَّهَ عَلَيْهِ ۖ فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ قَضَىٰ نَحْبَهُ وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَنْتَظِرُ ۖ وَمَا بَدَّلُوا تَبْدِيلًا

“Among the believers there are men who have been true to the contract they made with Allah. Some of them have fulfilled their pact by death and some are still waiting to do so, not having changed in any way at all.”

(Al-Ahzab, 33:23)

RFERL

Security officials in Russia’s second largest city say they have detained two alleged members of a banned Islamic organization.

Federal Security Service officials in St. Petersburg said on April 2 that the two Russian citizens, whose names were not disclosed, are suspected of leading a cell of the group Hizb ut-Tahrir group in the city.

Al-Arabiya

AFP, Paris

A French court on Thursday summoned former Guantanamo prison chief Geoffrey Miller over accusations of torture by two former detainees, their lawyer told AFP.

Nizar Sassi and Mourad Benchellali, both French citizens, were arrested by U..S forces in Afghanistan before being transferred to the notorious prison set up in Guantanamo Bay to hold terror suspects after the 9/11 attacks.

قَالَ مُوسَىٰ لِقَوْمِهِ اسْتَعِينُوا بِاللَّهِ وَاصْبِرُوا ۖ إِنَّ الْأَرْضَ لِلَّهِ يُورِثُهَا مَنْ يَشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ ۖ وَالْعَاقِبَةُ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ

“Musa said to his people, ‘Seek help in Allah and be steadfast. The earth belongs to Allah. He bequeathes it to any of His slaves He wills. The successful outcome is for those who have taqwa.'”

(Al-A’raaf, 128)

Guardian

Pew Research study predicts that America’s Muslim population will grow to 2.1% by 2050, and Muslims will exceed Christians worldwide by 2070

Alan Yuhas in New York

Muslims will nearly double their numbers in Europe – to more than 10% – by 2050 and will outnumber Christians worldwide by 2070, according to a new forecast of the growth of religions around the world.

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ فَتَنُوا الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ ثُمَّ لَمْ يَتُوبُوا فَلَهُمْ عَذَابُ جَهَنَّمَ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابُ الْحَرِيقِ

“Those who persecute men and women of the believers, and then do not make tawba, will have the punishment of Hell, will have the punishment of the Burning.”

(Al-Burooj, 10)

The Moscow Times

An Islamic State flag hangs on the wall of an abandoned building after the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) took control of the area.

Criminal cases have been launched against hundreds of Russian citizens suspected of having joined the ranks of terrorist organizations abroad, RIA Novosti reported Monday.

“At present, criminal cases have been launched with respect to 300 people,” Vladimir Makarov, deputy head of the Interior Ministry’s anti-extremism department, said in comments carried by RIA Novosti.

يُرِيدُونَ لِيُطْفِئُوا نُورَ اللَّهِ بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَاللَّهُ مُتِمُّ نُورِهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْكَافِرُونَ

“They desire to extinguish Allah’s Light with their mouths but Allah will perfect His Light, though the kafirun hate it.”

(As-Saff, 61:8)

Interfax

Moscow, March 31, Interfax – The number of supporters of the Hizb ut-Tahrir terrorist organization active in Crimea has been reduced since the peninsula rejoined Russia a year ago, Vladimir Makarov, deputy director of the Russian Interior Ministry’s central department for the fight against extremism, has said.

“Thanks to the preventive measures taken by us, the number of supporters of the Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami outlawed terrorist organization, which, however, has not been prosecuted in Ukraine, has seen a significant decrease – from 10,000 to 2,500 people,” Makarov told a meeting of the Kremlin Human Rights Council.

Novinite

Bulgaria: Seven Arrested in Bulgaria’s Pazardzhik, Plovdiv for Preaching Radical Islam on Facebook Photo by BGNES

Seven people were arrested early on Tuesday in the Roma neighborhoods of Plovdiv and Pazardzhik for preaching radical Islam on Facebook.

The arrests were made in the Roma districts of Plovdiv, Asenovgrad, and Pazardzhik under the supervision of the prosecuting authority, according to reports of the Focus news agency.

قُلْ يَا أَيُّهَا الْكَافِرُونَ

لَا أَعْبُدُ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ

وَلَا أَنْتُمْ عَابِدُونَ مَا أَعْبُدُ

وَلَا أَنَا عَابِدٌ مَا عَبَدْتُمْ

وَلَا أَنْتُمْ عَابِدُونَ مَا أَعْبُدُ

لَكُمْ دِينُكُمْ وَلِيَ دِينِ

In the name of Allah, All-Merciful, Most Merciful

Say: ‘Kafirun! I do not worship what you worship and you do not worship what I worship. Nor will I worship what you worship nor will you worship what I worship. You have your deen and I have my deen.’

(Al-Kaafirun)

Telegraph

How can politics unite two communities that don’t trust one another?

By Joel Faulkner Rogers

Cold War historian John Lewis Gaddis once divided his colleagues into “lumpers” and “splitters”. Those in the first camp usually sought to generalise about neat patterns that reduce the untidiness of history, he noted, while the second group preferred to reject these patterns in favour of complexity and endless distinctions. Getting the right balance between lumpers and splitters, wrote Gaddis, was “no easy thing”.

It seems a cultural version of the lumper-splitter problem now burdens the painful debate on why a steady flow of young Britons are aspiring to become jihadi brides and henchmen.

Mirror

Government officials turned down a driver’s application for the number MY15 LAM – the Muslim Council of Britain said it was not aware of the decision

PAMY15 LAM number plateDecision: Plates can be withheld on political, racial and religious grounds

Personalised number plates that potentially spell out the word Islam have been banned by the DVLA – for fear of causing offence.

The new ruling was ­revealed when one driver who tried to ­order a MY15 LAM plate – my Islam – was told no, reports the Sunday People.

A DVLA spokesman said: “We regularly review the appropriateness as ­society changes.