Headlines:
- 50% of Italians and Poles View Muslims Negatively, Study Finds
- UK Invites Egypt’s Sisi, State Media Say, Day after Mursi Ruling
- Toll tops 1,150 in Pakistan’s Deadliest Heat Wave on Record
- Beijing Bans Muslim Officials from Fasting in Ramadan in Parts of Xinjiang
50% of Italians and Poles View Muslims Negatively, Study Finds
More than 50% of Italians and Poles have a negative view of Muslims, according to new research which reveals worrying levels of xenophobia in several European countries. A study conducted by the Pew Research Center found that 61% of Italians and 56% of Poles expressed a negative view of Muslims in their country, Some 1.5 million Muslims live in Italy. However, Islam is not a formally recognized religion in the country, despite being the second biggest religion, and the country’s Muslim population are served by just two official, purpose-built mosques, forcing many having to pray in parking lots, warehouses and even a former sex shop. The number of Muslims in Europe is predicted to increase by 63% to 71 million by 2050, when adherents of Islam will make up more than 10% of the total European population. Europe’s 1.4 million Jews are expected to gradually decline to around 1.2 million by 2050. [Source: Newsweek]
There is nothing surprising in this, except the Muslim population is set to increase in Europe over the next 40 years or so. This is a tremendous cause for concern for European policy makers, as they fear the Islamization of Europe, while their own Christian populations decline.
UK Invites Egypt’s Sisi, State Media Say, Day after Mursi Ruling
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been invited to visit Britain by the British prime minister; Egypt’s state news agency said on Wednesday, a day after a Cairo court sentenced a former president to death. Egypt’s first freely elected president, Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, was sentenced to death, part of a crackdown launched after then Army Chief Sisi stripped Mursi of power in 2013 following mass protests against his rule. Egypt is a close British ally in the Middle East. Cairo is seeking foreign investment to rebuild its economy after years of political turmoil and amid an Islamist insurrection centred on the Sinai Peninsula. BP Oil company signed a deal this year to invest $12 billion (£7.58 billion) in Egypt that will produce 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent, an agreement that will help Egypt as it tackles its worst energy crisis in decades. A crackdown by security forces that began with Islamists has since expanded to include liberal and secular activists who helped to topple Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Authorities say the now-outlawed Brotherhood poses a grave threat to national security and say they are committed to the country’s democratic transition. The Brotherhood says it is committed to peaceful activism.[ Source: Daily Star]
Once again Britain forgoes its democracy stance to embrace another dictator in the Middle East to safeguard its oil contracts, and then wonders why Muslims are radicalized across the world.
Toll tops 1,150 in Pakistan’s Deadliest Heat Wave on Record
The death toll in Pakistan’s deadliest heat wave on record now topped 1,100, causing morgues to overflow, Reuters reported Friday. Power outages added to the misery, leaving many without fans, water or light at the beginning of Ramadan, when many Muslims do not eat or drink during daylight hours, according to Reuters. “By Friday, at least 1,150 people have died in the government-run hospitals,” said Anwar Kazmi of the Edhi Foundation, a private charity that runs a network of ambulances and morgues. The New York Times reported the heat wave has sent more than 14,000 people into government and private hospitals in Karachi, the nation’s largest city.
This is a man-made tragedy, made in part by the privatized K-Electric that is responsible for long power outages in Karachi and the shortage of water supplies across the city by turning off power to water pumps. The other culprit are the inept politicians that live in the splendor of the air-conditioned homes, drive to the assembly in their air-conditioned cars and deliver speeches in three-piece suites in the full comfort of air-conditioned government offices.
Beijing Bans Muslim Officials from Fasting in Ramadan in Parts of Xinjiang
China has banned government officials, teachers and students from fasting during Ramadan, amid rising tensions been the central government and the Muslim Uighur population of the far west. A number of local departments in Xinjiang, home to the Turkic-speaking Uighurs, issued the ban to local party members, civil servants, teachers and students during the holy month of Ramadan. Similar bans have been made in previous years. However, this year’s prohibition is particularly sensitive because it follows a government pledge to crack down on “religious extremists” whom it has blamed for causing violent attacks across the country and seeking to join jihadists in Syria and Iraq. In Sangong Town, Changji City, authorities ordered: “Communist party members, civil servants, students and minors are firmly forbidden from attending religious activities,” according to the website of Xinjiang Standing Committee of People’s Congress. It added that local mosques remain under 24-hour surveillance for hidden security threats. Xinjiang Xingnong Website, a local government website, published a statement that said: “We firmly fight against religious extremist ideas [and] prevent those people lawbreakers from attending religious activities.” The move has added to the persecution felt by members of the ethnic minority throughout the country. In May, authorities in Xinjiang stopped issuing new passports and recalled existing passports to be held by police, amid a widening security tightening by the atheist Chinese Communist Party.[Source: The Telegraph]
What is disappointing is that many Muslim countries seek close relations with China despite their abhorrent actions against Muslims in China. Do not the leaders of the Muslim world recognize that both East and West are united in their enmity towards Islam?