Currently in Saudi Arabia, only men are permitted to conduct retail business and the practice proves to be awkward when the items being sold are primarily female products. Therefore, whether purchasing panties, brassieres, see-through nighties, or lipstick and other cosmetics, women are helped by bearded and moustached male sales assistants. But times have changed and Saudi society is about to make a dramatic leap forward.

From Telegraph.co.uk:

It is hailed as a major step forward for women's emancipation in Saudi Arabia: in the coming weeks they will enjoy the right to buy lingerie from female shop assistants.

This may be a far cry from bra-burning feminism but in Saudi Arabia the notion of buying one's brassiere from a woman is nothing short of revolutionary.

A new decree requiring shop owners to hire female staff to sell undergarments illustrates the cautious liberalisation the kingdom is undergoing - and how far it has yet to travel.

On the other hand, the lingerie shop owners are ambivalent. Some intend to darken their premises to hide the fact that women are working while others complain that business will be stunted since most customers for women's underwear are men. (As an aside, I'm astounded by the fact that Saudi men are buying most of the women's underwear in the Kingdom. There has to be a psychological angle here somewhere.)

King Abdallah is the impetus behind the recent liberalization of Saudi society. He's even hinted at lifting the prohibition on women driving. Naturally, traditionalists believe that the changes go too far and are "not compatible with Islam."

From Interested-Participant.

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Here's another oddity about the practice of Islam which is passed along in the interest of developing an understanding of the everyday lives of average Muslims.

From The Sun Online:

Jail bosses are rebuilding toilets so Muslim inmates don't have to use them while facing Mecca.

Thousands of pounds of taxpayers money are being spent to ensure lags are not offended.

The Islamic religion prohibits Muslims from facing or turning their backs on the Kiblah -- the direction of prayer -- when they visit the lav.

Muslim lags claimed they have had to sit sideways on prison WCs.

But after pressure from faith leaders the Home Office has agreed to turn the existing toilets 90 degrees at HMP Brixton in London.

Hat Tip: PCWatch

From Interested-Participant.

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Today is holocaust remembrance day. LetÂ’s look at a few of the similarities of modern Islamic fascists and the historical Nazi and Neo Nazi thinking. The common thread is racism.

Times Online Via Jihad Watch : A NEO-NAZI whose ideas were said to be the inspiration for the man who let off a nail bomb in Central London in 1999 has converted to an extremist form of Islam.

David Myatt, a founder of the hardline British National Socialist Movement (NSM) who has been jailed for racist attacks, has changed his name to Abdul Aziz ibn MyattÂ…

…In a later interview, Myatt supports the killing of any Muslim who breaks his oath of loyalty to Islam, and the setting up of a Muslim superstate He describes himself as having been “staunchly opposed to non-white immigration into Britain and twice jailed for violence in pursuit of my political aims”…

Myatt said recently that he had given up hope of a breakthrough by the far Right and believed that Muslims were the best hope for combating Zionism and the West. “There will not be an uprising, a revolution, in any Western nation, by nationalists, racial nationalists, or National Socialists — because these people lack the desire, the motivation, the ethos, to do this and because they do not have the support of even a large minority of their own folk,” he said.

“If these nationalists, or some of them, desire to aid us, to help us . . . they can do the right thing, the honourable thing, and convert, revert, to Islam — accepting the superiority of Islam over and above each and every way of the West.”

Hitler : The Jewish race will have to adapt itself to sound constructive activity as other nations do, or sooner or later it will succumb to a crisis of an inconceivable magnitude.

Ahmadinejad : "We ask the West to remove what they created sixty years ago and if they do not listen to our recommendations, then the Palestinian nation and other nations will eventually do this for them,"

Hitler : The deduction from all this is the following: an antisemitism based on purely emotional grounds will find its ultimate expression in the form of the pogrom.[1] An antisemitism based on reason, however, must lead to systematic legal combating and elimination of the privileges of the Jews, that which distinguishes the Jews from the other aliens who live among us (an Aliens Law). The ultimate objective [of such legislation] must, however, be the irrevocable removal of the Jews in general.

Ahmadinejad : We say that this fake regime (Israel) cannot not logically continue to liveÂ…

(paraphrased) The Palestinians and "other nations" will eventually remove Israel from the region.

"Whether you like it or not, the Zionist regime is on the road to being eliminated,"

Hitler : Jewish watchword "Workers of the world unite" will be conquered by a higher realization, namely "Workers of all classes and of all nations, recognize your common enemy!"

Ahmadinejad : The new wave of confrontations generated in Palestine and the growing turmoil in the Islamic world would in no time wipe Israel away

Hitler : From time immemorial, however, the Jews have known better than any others how falsehood and calumny can be exploited. Is not their very existence founded on one great lie,

Ahmadinejad provoked a world outcry in October when he said Israel should be "wiped off the map."

Hitler : And outside, we have again today the same coalition as before, from the chief of that international Masonic lodge, the half-Jew Roosevelt, and his Jewish brain trust, to the Jewry of purest water in Marxist-Bolshevik Russia. They are the same enemies as before, the same foes as then.

Ahmadinejad and IranÂ’s top Mullah : "I tell the governments who support Zionism to ... let the migrants (Jews) return to their countries of origin. If you think you owe them something, give them some of your land," he said.

Iran's turbaned supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also accused the United States of seeking to place the entire region under Israeli control.

"The plots by the American government against Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon aimed at governing the Middle East with the control of the Zionist regime will not succeed," Khamenei said.

Hitler: On instructions from the Fuhrer I make known the following:

Where the Jewish Question is brought up in public, there may be no discussion of a future overall solution (Gesamtlosung).

It may, however, be mentioned that the Jews are taken in groups for appropriate labor purposes.

Amadinejad: Addressing a mass demonstration in Tehran - one of many organized throughout Iran to commemorate the 27th anniversary of the Islamic revolution - he once again questioned the Holocaust "fairy tale".

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According to Islamic rules, talking in the bathroom is prohibited. In response to an inquiry from a reader concerning the acceptability of simple greetings in the john, an expert provided the following.

From ArabNews.com:

The Islamic greeting, Salam alaikum, uses one of God's names, Salam, which means "peace," and offers it to whomever we are greeting. We should always show profound respect to God and His attributes. A bathroom is not a place where people should indulge in conversation or discuss any matter. It is a place where people answer the call of nature and leave, or they take off their clothes to have a shower. Islamic manners make it clear that the less said in a bathroom the better.

Hence, we must not mention God’s name or the name of the Prophet Muhammad or any prophet there. We are better advised to do whatever we need to do and leave.

Nevertheless, the specific punishment for talking in the bathroom isn't discussed in the article. I would guess that it includes the washing of the offender's mouth with soap and a few Islamic demerits. Naturally, all infidels should be forewarned not to expect a response when they say, "Hey, Abu. What have you been eating, man?"

From Interested-Participant.

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From Reuters:

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has called for people who ridiculed the Prophet Mohammad to be killed, weighing into the furor that erupted after a Danish newspaper ran cartoons lampooning Islam's holy messenger.

"Heretics and atheists, who denigrate religion and transgress against God and His Prophet, will not stop their enmity toward Islam except by being killed," the Saudi-born militant said.

Cross-posted at The Dread Pundit Bluto.

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Via Jihad Watch we have these fine snippets from Muslim Friday services. Makes me want to run out and convert right now, not.

Spiegel : In a Berlin mosque, a television crew secretly recorded the sermon of a Turkish imam who described the Germans as godless and railed against their alleged stench. In London, hate preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri called upon the faithful to murder female tourists in his native Egypt, saying: "If a woman, even a Muslim woman, is naked and you have no way of covering her up, it is legitimate to kill her."

In an interview with SPIEGEL, television imam Yusuf al-Qaradawi, perhaps currently one of the most influential Islamic scholars around, magnanimously conceded that there is also room in heaven for devout Christians and Jews. But on his Arab-language website a short time later, he made it clear that he believes that Christians and Jews are ultimately nothing more than infidels.

But at the same time, often in the same sermon, imams ask God for help in confronting everyday woes, issue moral appeals to their own political leaders and constantly return to the Islamic world's greatest lament: a comparison between the gloomy present and the glorious past.

Dr. Id Abd al- Hamid Yussuf, 65, is completely against the use of Islam for political purposes.

The Prophet forgave those who committed injustices against him. He pardoned the murderer of his uncle, Hamsa. He forgave his people when they banished him from Mecca Â… Islam spread throughout the world through argument and conviction, but not through the sword, as the enemies of Islam have claimed. Islam only used the sword when it was attacked Â… The Prophet forbade extremism and fanaticism. He said: "I was sent to you out of the generosity of God. Night became day. Anyone who strays from this path will fall victim to ruin." For some, religion is like a maze. Enter it with caution, because whoever approaches religion as an extremist will perish in his extremism.

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At least some Muslims realize the damage and shame Islam suffers at the hands of those who preach the doctrine of hate.

Times Online :MUSLIM students training to be imams at a British college with strong Iranian links have complained that they are being taught fundamentalist doctrines which describe nonMuslims as “filth”.

The Times has obtained extracts from medieval texts taught to the students in which unbelievers are likened to pigs and dogs. The texts are taught at the Hawza Ilmiyya of London, a religious school, which has a sister institution, the Islamic College for Advanced Studies (ICAS), which offers a degree validated by Middlesex University.

The students, who have asked to remain anonymous, study their religious courses alongside the university-backed BA in Islamic studies

Mr Moezi is also the director of the Islamic Centre of England in Maida Vale, a large mosque and community centre that is a registered charity. Its memorandum of association, lodged with the Charity Commission, says that: “At all times at least one of the trustees shall be a representative of the Supreme Spiritual Leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Both the Irshad Trust and the Islamic Centre of England Ltd (ICEL) were established in 1996. Mr MoeziÂ’s predecessor as Ayatollah KhameneiÂ’s representative, another cleric called Mohsen Araki, was a founding trustee of both charities.

‘The water left over in the container after any type of animal has drunk from it is considered clean and pure apart from the left over of a dog, a pig, and a disbeliever’

‘There are ten types of filth and impurities: urine, faeces, semen, carrion, blood of carrion, dogs, pigs, disbelievers’

(You get that? Your blood is equated with fecal matter)

‘When a dog, a pig, or a disbeliever touches or comes in contact with the clothes or body [of a Muslim] while he [the disbeliever] is wet, it becomes obligatory- compulsory upon him [the Muslim] to wash and clean that part which came in contact with the disbeliever’

Also see Jihad Watch, Michelle Malkin, who includes new pic of Muhammed on her post and USS Neverdock.

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Reading this CNN story you get the idea that anyone who runs around stabbing Coptic Christians is just nuts.

CNN : A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, characterized the men as "insane" and said they were carrying tranquilizing medication.

One worshipper, Nushi Atta Girgis, 78, was killed, according to the semiofficial Middle East News Agency.

Father Augustinos, who heads a different Mar Girgis Church, said the attacks occurred just after Mass began at 9 a.m. (0700 GMT).

"They could be Islamic activists. They consider this as jihad," he said of the attackers, who broke through regularly stationed security barriers and police to enter the churches.

Times Online UK :"The attacker stormed the church armed with a knife and shouted Â’There is no God but AllahÂ’ and Â’Allah is the greatestÂ’ before stabbing the worshippers," one of the Marie Girgis church employees told an AFP reporter at the scene.

"We closed the doors of the church as soon as he started attacking the worshippers and we fought back with sticks but he tried to flee through one of the churchÂ’s underground passages."

Father Augustinos, who heads a different Mari Girgis Church, said the attacks occurred just after Mass began at 9am (0700 GMT). "They could be Islamic activists. They consider this as jihad," he said of the attackers, who broke through regularly stationed security barriers and police to enter the churches.

The attack comes on what is Good Friday to many of the worldÂ’s Christians. However, EgyptÂ’s Coptic Christians and other followers of the Greek Orthodox church commemorate the holiday a week later.

But Abdullah Osman, an official with the ruling National Democratic Party, questioned the sanity of the attackers.

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Hey now that takes some doing! But just above Scientology? So I reckon Tom Cruise is a bit nutty but I really thought he might rate as less nutty than say terrorists.

(CBSNEWS) : Although Americans believe they are better informed about Islam than they were five years ago, a new CBS News poll finds fewer than one in five say their impression of the religion is favorable.

Forty-five percent of respondents queried April 6 - 9 said they have an unfavorable view of Islam, a rise from 36 percent in February. And the public’s impression of Islam has diminished even more compared with four years ago. In February 2002 – less than six months after the terrorist attacks of September 11 – the country was evenly divided in its impression of Islam.

When compared with some other religions practiced in America, positive views of Islam rank below those for mainstream Protestantism, Catholicism, Judaism, and Christian fundamentalist faiths. Only Scientology, of all the religions asked about, ranked lower.

Boy, aren't you glad they did that poll! Because I would never have guessed that blowing up innocent women and children and sawing off the heads of innocent civilians on the internet could make you unpopular. That's such a handy thing to remember, isn't it. I'll have to make sure I make a note of that somewhere so I don't forget.

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They are not hiding here in the stove! No really guys where are you?

Instapundit : We need to make the moderates feel safer -- and the extremists much more nervous. That's why things like the pandering response to the Cartoon Wars by everyone from Borders to the Bush Administration, are exactly wrong. Plus, there's this:....

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(Lod, Israel) Nineteen-year-old Rim Abu Ganem, an Israeli Arab, was allegedly choked to death by her brothers in an "honor killing." Rim had fallen in love with a Palestinian man who wasn't the family's choice for her mate. Shortly before she was murdered, police had warned that her life was in danger and referred her to a shelter. Tragically, Rim didn't heed the warning.

Rim's brother Suliman, a pediatrician at Assaf Harofeh Hospital, allegedly gave the other brothers an anesthetic to put her to sleep. While Rim dozed, they choked her. Rim's body was later found in a well.

The five brothers were arrested and they may actually face legal consequences since the crime was committed in Israel. I hope so. More here.

From Interested-Participant.

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We are always being accused of being in some conspiracy to establish an empire. You know maybe all those suspicions of us in the Middle East is due to the fact that their culture conspiracy and deception is pervasive. They see us that way because thatÂ’s how they think.

Opinionjournal : Khaled Mash'al, the leader of Hamas, fresh from the Islamist group's sweeping victory in the Palestinian elections:
This is because our nation is progressing and is victorious. . . . By Allah, you will be defeated. . . . Tomorrow, our nation will sit on the throne of the world. This is not a figment of the imagination but a fact. Tomorrow we will lead the world, Allah willing. Apologize today, before remorse will do you no good.

Among Islamic radicals, such gloating about the prowess and imminent triumph of their "nation" is as commonplace as recitals of the long and bitter catalog of grievances related to the loss of historical Muslim dominion. Osama bin Laden has repeatedly alluded to the collapse of Ottoman power at the end of World War I and, with it, the abolition of the Ottoman caliphate. "What America is tasting now," he declared in the immediate wake of 9/11, "is only a copy of what we have tasted. Our Islamic nation has been tasting the same for more than 80 years, of humiliation and disgrace, its sons killed and their blood spilled, its sanctities desecrated." Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's top deputy, has pointed still farther into the past, lamenting "the tragedy of al-Andalus"--that is, the end of Islamic rule in Spain in 1492.
These historical claims are in turn frequently dismissed by Westerners as delusional, a species of mere self-aggrandizement or propaganda. But the Islamists are perfectly serious, and know what they are doing.

"I was ordered to fight all men until they say, 'There is no god but Allah.' " With these farewell words, the prophet Muhammad summed up the international vision of the faith he brought to the world. As a universal religion, Islam envisages a global political order in which all humankind will live under Muslim rule as either believers or subject communities. In order to achieve this goal, it is incumbent on all free, male, adult Muslims to carry out an uncompromising "struggle in the path of Allah," or jihad.

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Although Abdul Rahman is now safe this week the Weekly Standard points out more intolerance by Muslims specifically this week Afghanistan and even harsher Iran. Also flunking the human rights grade is Saudi Arabia and Sudan. Yes Sudan rape and genocide capital of the world where and Arab can act like a true Arab.

Weekly Standard : Two other Afghan converts to Christianity were arrested in March, though, for security reasons, locals have asked that their names and locations be withheld. In February, yet other converts had their homes raided by police.
Some other Muslim countries have laws similar to Afghanistan's. Apart from its other depredations, in the last ten years Saudi Arabia has executed people for the crimes of apostasy, heresy, and blasphemy. The death penalty for apostates is also in the legal code in Iran, Sudan, Mauritania, and the Comoros Islands.
In the 1990s, the Islamic Republic of Iran used death squads against converts, including major Protestant leaders, and the situation is worsening under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The regime is currently engaged in a systematic campaign to track down and reconvert or kill those who have changed their religion from Islam.
Iran also regards Baha'is as heretics from Islam and denies them any legal rights, including the right to life: There is no penalty for killing a Baha'i

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Call this what you get when you are Muslim and speak out for Islam and against terror and death.

Khaleejtimes DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan - Suspected Islamic militants killed a cleric in a Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border over suspicion he was a spy for the United States and Britain, officials said on Sunday.

The bullet-riddled body of Maulana Zahir Shah, who ran an Islamic school, was found Sunday in Sararogha, a mountainous area in the lawless South Waziristan tribal region, three days after five armed men abducted him from his seminary.

Shah helped authorities run an FM radio station that aired programs critical of the militants from his school in Tajori, a town near the border with South Waziristan, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Dera
In a sign of growing strength in South Waziristan, militants have issued orders for local tribesmen to grow beards or face punishment.

On Friday, the militants held a meeting in Jandola, a small town in the region, and warned local clerics not to solemnize the weddings or funerals of men who do not have beards, an internal police report said. A copy of the report was made available to an Associated Press reporter in Dera Ismail Khan on Saturday.

Radical Islamists consider shaving facial hair to be un-Islamic

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Yep.

Dr. Sanity Unbelievable material from MEMRI (hat tip: LGF). Read/watch the entire interview, but here is the final bit:

Mermi : The first is the khifadh circumcision of the girls. The second factor is modesty, the third is the mother's monitoring of the daughter's behavior, and finally, the observance of prayer.
[...]
Interviewer: Is the girl asked whether she wants to be circumcised or not?
Dr. Muhammad Wahdan: No. We ask the doctor, who makes the decision.
Dr. Malika Zarrar: God help us.
Interviewer: So what about the girl's opinion?
Dr. Muhammad Wahdan: What do you mean?
Interviewer: What if she says: I don't want to be circumcised. What happens then?
Dr. Muhammad Wahdan: If a girl says she doesn't want it, she's free. No problem.
Interviewer: Is this what happens in reality?
Dr. Muhammad Wahdan: I have no relation to reality. I am talking about how things should be.
Interviewer: You are a religious sheik, from Al-Azahar University. You cannot say you have no relation to reality.
Dr. Muhammad Wahdan: Reality is a mistake, we must rectify it.
[...]
In Egypt we have four and a half million spinsters. The definition of a spinster is a woman who has reached 30, without ever receiving a marriage proposal. We have a spinster problem in the Arab world, and the last thing we want is for them to be sexually aroused. Circumcision of the girls who need it makes them chaste, dignified, and pure.

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