The federal government is considering plans for a new-look advisory body to help combat public perceptions of an overly-religious image of Islam. Dr Ameer Ali, of the Regional Islamic Council, said he agreed with comments by the Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs Laurie Ferguson that the idea that all Muslims were religious was a “misconception”.
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How do Muslims worldwide think?
Daniel Pipes reports on the dismaying results of a world-wide poll on Muslim attitudes to the west. A proclivity to conspiracy theories: In not one Muslim population polled does a majority believe that Arabs carried out the attacks of September 11, 2001, on America. The proportions range from a mere 15% in Pakistan holding Arabs
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Beazley and Downer on cartoons
OPPOSITION Leader Kim Beazley has condemned the publication in Australia of controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed. Mr Beazley said he believed publishing the caricatures was “extremely unwise”. “It’s an offensive cartoon and it shouldn’t be printed,” he said. I’m sure he meant to say they are offensive cartoons. Brisbane’s Courier-Mail newspaper has published one
Funny and sick
This is funny! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . This is not. . It’s a sign of a very sick and disfunctional society.
Globe win for suicide bomber film
Palestinian film-maker Hany Abu-Assad was perhaps the most surprised man at the Golden Globes on Monday as his drama of suicide bombers crossing into Israel, “Paradise Now,” was named the year’s best foreign language film. Not surprisingly, no one expects any bookings for the film in Israel I googled for reviews and considering I am
No-nudes Playboy for Indonesia
The Weekend Australian (no link) reports that Indonesian Muslims reacted angrily to a purported plan by Playboy to launch a version of it’s magazine in Indonesia. Indonesian businessman Avianto Nugroho said the magazine would be launched in March and would not contain nude photos What’s the point? Predictably, Irfan Awas from hardline Muslim group Majelis
You can leave your hat on
Cairo: An Egyptian cleric’s controversial fatwa claiming that nudity during sexual intercourse invalidates a marriage has uncovered a rift among Islamic scholars. According to the religious edict issued by Rashad Hassan Khalil, a former dean of Al-Azhar University’s faculty of Sharia, “being completely naked during the act of coitus annuls the marriage”. But wait, all
Another reason not to encourage veils
AN Egyptian man discovered on his wedding day that his fiancee of three years was a man who had been concealing his identity behind a veil. You’d think in three years of being betrothed the guy would’ve got to first base at least once. Talk about buying a pig in a poke.
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