Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !
Recent Appearances... Rantburg

Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russian Orthodox Church broke communication with five hierarchs of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church
2024-05-31
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] During the meeting, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) decided to break off church communion with five hierarchs of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (BOC), who participated in joint service with Ukrainian schismatics. The statement was published on May 30 on the Russian Orthodox Church website.

At the meeting, they discussed the liturgy, which was held at the Valukli Monastery in Istanbul by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople together with representatives of one of the Ukrainian structures. Representatives of the BOC, Metropolitan Nicholas of Plovdiv, Metropolitan Cyprian of Starozagora, Metropolitan Jacob of Dorostol, Bishop Sioniy of Velich and Bishop Vissarion of Smolyan, also took part in it.

“The meeting participants stated the impossibility of concelebrating with the mentioned hierarchs who entered into church communion with schismatics,” the statement says.

Members of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church also noted with regret that Patriarch Bartholomew continues actions that lead to a deepening gap in Orthodoxy.

In Kyiv in December 2018, a schismatic structure called the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” was established. In January 2019, Patriarch Bartholomew signed a tomos on the autocephaly of the OCU. In the same month, 47 parishes transferred to this structure.

The schismatics, with the assistance of the Ukrainian authorities, began a gradual seizure of the churches of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The process intensified after the start of the SVO. Attacks on the priests of the UOC also began. On May 30, 2024, activists forced the Metropolitan of the Cherkasy diocese of the UOC Theodosius to walk along the Russian flag, on which was fixed a portrait of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill.

On May 5, Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry Gennady Askaldovich said that the Kiev regime is ousting the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine for the sake of the ambitions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which wants to gain a large local church to strengthen its position in Eastern Europe. He also noted that the OCU, created on the basis of persecution, cannot be made a support for the state.
Related:
Russian Orthodox Church: 2024-05-19 Poland to Invest $2.5 Billion to Build Up Border Fortifications
Russian Orthodox Church: 2024-05-18 Russian Orthodox Church: the demolition of the chapel of the Desyatinny Monastery in Kyiv repeated the acts of Batu Khan
Russian Orthodox Church: 2024-05-06 The miraculous Kazan Icon to be transferred to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior
Related:
Bulgarian Orthodox Church: 2012-05-01 Dear Ulama: Heaven Is Not Your Pr0n Fantasy!
Bulgarian Orthodox Church: 2009-06-01 Cracks show in Bulgaria's Muslim ethnic model
Link


Home Front: WoT
Miami Imam Dr. Fadi Kablawi: We Are Not Here To Kill Anyone; If We Can Take Your Country And Implement Shari'a Law, We Will Do It
2024-02-09
This is the dawa (outreach) stage, where the targetted population has the choice to voluntarily surrender before physical conquest begins.
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

Related:
Fadi Kablawi: 2021-03-21 Miami imam slams normalization with ‘descendants of pigs and apes’
Related:
dawa : 2023-09-18 Qur'an once again desecrated and burned in Sweden
dawa : 2023-02-13 'Om' and 'Allah' are the same: Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind chief triggers controversy
dawa : 2022-07-16 Faryab Province: Taliban arrested a number of people because of their belief in
Link


Africa Subsaharan
Muslim Fanatics Harass, Threaten To Stone Osun Priestess, Fellow Worshippers In Ilorin, North Central Nigeria
2023-07-23
[TWITTER]

The Muslim clerics were captured on camera in a video making the rounds on the internet, threatening to stone the traditional religion practitioners and their priestess.

Some Moslem holy mans in Ilorin, Kwara State capital threatened to stone some Isese traditional worshippers performing rites at a river in Oko Owo area of the state.

The Moslem holy mans were captured on camera in a video making the rounds on the internet, threatening to stone the traditional religion practitioners and their priestess.

The video posted on Friday night by a Facebook user, Alfa Aribidesi At-Tawdeeh Islamic Da'wah, and captioned "ANOTHER OSUN WOMEN CAUGHT LIVE @ OKO OLOWO IN ILORIN TODAY!!!", shows the Moslem holy mans disrupt the traditional rite In the video, a Moslem holy man who spoke in Yoruba is heard saying, "We have warned you. You putting on hijab, we also see you. Don't put the calabash down. You know Ilorin doesn't belong to you; you understand."

The traditional religion worshipers replied that they are Ilorin indigenes but the Moslem fanatics said, "Is this what we will be doing in Ilorin? You say you are indigenes, is this what we will be doing in Ilorin? Where is your family house in Ilorin?"

He beckoned to some other Isese adherents still by the river and said, "Come out of there. You are in Ilorin. Leave that place. Is this Osun?"

But when they did not leave, he charged towards them and threatened to stone them, insisting that their religion was not allowed in Ilorin, saying, "Leave! Leave! Leave now! Can’t you hear me? Leave or I'll stone you."

The fanatics could be heard chanting Moslem prayers in Arabic.

Also, a recent viral video that generated controversy revealed how a traditional religion priestess, Yeye Ajesikemi Olokun Omolara Olatunji, was threatened by Moslem fanatics not to hold Isese festival in Ilorin. In a video released online, the priestess said she was threatened and warned not to hold any Isese festival in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital. Omolara bemoaned the unfortunate situation and disclosed that her life was in danger.

Meanwhile,
...back at the pie fight, Bella went down under the weight of the custard...
the Osun devotee had reportedly released fliers announcing a three-day traditional event aimed at celebrating certain Yoruba deities.

But members of a Moslem group, Majlisu Shabaab li Ulamahu Society went to her house to warn her to desist from holding the planned Isese festival.

Later, Mallam Abdulazeez Arowona, the front man for the Emir of Ilorin, Ibrahim Kolapo Sulu-Gambari, said that the monarch and the palace were in support of the Islamic group.

Arowona said the monarch had made a public declaration against such events, which he described as ’idolatry’.

He added that Moslems in the city would oppose the Isese festival.

But Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, who is the Akintalun of Egba, Giiwa of Ijebu-Remo and Akogun of Isara, in an open letter to the Emir on Thursday, said that "it is sad to see the ancient city of Ilorin, a confluence of faiths and ethnic varieties, reduced to this level of bigotry and intolerance, manifested in the role of a presiding monarch".

According to Soyinka, such actions "bred Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
, ISIS, ISWAP and other religious malformations that currently plague this nation, spreading grief and outrage across a once peaceful landscape, degrading my and your existence with their virulent brand of Islam".
Related:
Kwara State: 2022-11-22 Gunmen Abduct Cleric, Son In Kwara, Demand N100Million Ransom
Kwara State: 2022-10-03 Gunmen Abduct Traditional Ruler, Wife, Driver In Kwara Sahara Reporters
Kwara State: 2022-03-19 Unknown Gunmen Abduct Eight Leaders Of Ruling Party, APC
Related:
Ilorin: 2022-11-22 Gunmen Abduct Cleric, Son In Kwara, Demand N100Million Ransom
Ilorin: 2022-03-19 Unknown Gunmen Abduct Eight Leaders Of Ruling Party, APC
Ilorin: 2022-02-04 Many Injured As Muslim Parents Protest Against At Baptist School In Kwara
Link


India-Pakistan
'Om' and 'Allah' are the same: Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind chief triggers controversy
2023-02-13
[OneIndia] On Friday, Jamaat Ulama-e-Hind
...the Deobandi caliphatist group also spelt Jamiat Ulema e Hind...
president Mahmood Madani said India belongs to him as much as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat.

Days after targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying India belongs to him as much as the PM, Jamaat Ulema-e-Hind chief Mahmood Madani on Sunday triggered a controversy why equating Om with Allah.

According to him, 'Om', the prime symbol of Hinduism, and 'Allah', the term for God by Moslems, are the same.
Until they get in a snit, when only Moslems will be allowed to say Allah again. That’s what happened in Malaysia a few years ago.
Addressing a gathering at the three-day plenary session of Jamaat Ulama-e-Hind at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi, he said, "I asked dharma guru when there was no one, neither Shri Ram, nor Brahma, then whom did they use to worship? Some people told me that they used to worship Om. Then I told them that Om is called Allah by us, Ishwar by you (Hindus), Khuda by Farsi (Persian) speaking people and God by English speaking people,"
That there is what they call dawa (outreach) — the stage before the unbelievers accept Islam (surrender). It’s utter nonsense, of course, if one looks at how each of those personages is defined, but Allah is pleased to describe himself as the Lord of Lies, among other unexpected descriptors.
After the address of Jamaat Ulema-e-Hind chief Maulana Syed Arshad Madani, Acharya Lokesh Muni (Jain Muni) present on the stage expressed displeasure over his remarks and said, "We do not agree with his (Arshad Madani) statement. We just agree to live in harmony with each other."

Jamaat Ulama-e-Hind is a century-old organization and works for the protection of the civil, religious, cultural and educational rights of Moslems. Jamaat claims to be the largest organization of Moslems and socio-political and religious issues of Moslems remain on its agenda. The Jamaat believes in the Deobandi ideology of Islam, PTI reported.
That’s like Salafism, but based in India instead of Arabia.
Speaking at the inaugural plenary session of Jamaat Ulama-e-Hind at Ramlila Maidan in the national capital, Maulana Madani said, "India is our country. This country belongs to Mahmood Madani as much as it belongs to Narendra Modi and Mohan Bhagwat. Neither Mahmood is an inch ahead of them nor are they one inch ahead of Mahmood."

He claimed that Islam is the oldest religion in this country.
Another lie, but do go on.
"This land is the first homeland of Moslems. Saying that Islam is a religion that came from outside is totally wrong and baseless.

Islam is the oldest religion among all religions.
You may make that claim for Heaven, but on Earth it is over 2000 years younger than Judaism, 700 years younger than Christianity, and several thousand years younger than generic paganism.
India is the best country for Hindi Moslems," Madani said.

The Jamaat Ulama-e-Hind chief stated that they are against forced religious conversions and alleged that today people who are converting their religion voluntarily are also being sent to jail on false charges.

He said, "We are against religious conversion driven forcibly. Freedom of religion is a fundamental right. We are also against conversion by force, fraud and greed. There are many examples of agencies targeting the Moslem community, such as the ban on Namaz, police action on them, and bulldozer action."
Related:
Jamaat Ulama-e-Hind: 2016-02-15 IS has no role to play in Kashmir: Mirwaiz
Related:
Mahmood Madani: 2007-09-11 How a Muslim Billionaire thrives in Hindu India
Mahmood Madani: 2006-05-15 Pak's Fazlur Rehman back in India
Related:
Jamiat Ulema e Hind: 2007-09-11 How a Muslim Billionaire thrives in Hindu India
Link


Southeast Asia
Indonesia’s top Islamic clerics object to US LGBTQ rights envoy’s visit
2022-12-02
[BenarNews] Indonesia’s top Moslem holy manal body on Thursday spoke out against a planned visit by the American LGBTQ rights envoy, saying it would not welcome a guest "whose intention is to undermine our nation’s cultural and religious values."

Same-gender sex is not a criminal offense in Indonesia except in its Aceh province, but the world’s most populous Moslem-majority nation has seen growing anti-LGBTQ sentiment.

Jessica Stern, the U.S. special envoy to advance the rights of LGBTQI+ persons, is scheduled to visit Indonesia on Dec. 7, after trips to Vietnam and the Philippines, the State Department said. LGBTQI+ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex persons.

During her Southeast Asia trip, Stern will reportedly meet with government officials and civil society representatives to discuss "advancing the human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty...
of LGBTQI+ persons," the department said on its website.

The Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) Deputy Chairman Anwar Abbas said the organization "categorically rejects the visit by the special envoy."

The MUI "cannot welcome a guest whose purpose in coming here is to damage and undermine the noble religious and cultural values ​​of our nation," Anwar said, calling homosexual behavior "dangerous."

"If this behavior is tolerated, it will lead to humanity’s extinction, because if men marry men and women marry women, they will not reproduce," he said.

MUI Chairman Cholil Nafis, a board member at Nahdlatul Ulama, the country’s largest Islamic organization, tweeted that Indonesian officials should "not to take the time to meet the LGBT envoy."

Indonesian Foreign Ministry front man Teuku Faizasyah said he had no details on Stern’s visit and declined to comment about the opposition to her trip.

Although same-gender sex is not illegal, discrimination against the LGBTQ community appears to be on the rise in the Southeast Asian country.

In May, the government summoned the United Kingdom’s envoy after the British embassy came under fire from conservative Moslem groups and politicians here for flying a rainbow flag in support of sexual minorities.

In Aceh, the only province that applies Islamic law in Indonesia, same-gender couples have been caned after sharia courts found them guilty of being intimate.

The Indonesian military, which bans same-gender sex as "inappropriate behavior," recently imposed seven-month prison sentences on two soldiers for having physical relations, according to Agence La Belle France-Presse news agency. In addition, the soldiers were kicked out of the army.

Meanwhile,
...back at the shootout, bullets whapped! around Butch as he tried to tie his scarf around his shoulder as a tourniquet......
rights activist muppets are concerned about the new draft criminal code bill set to pass this month that could criminalize so-called deviant sexual behavior and sex out of wedlock.

MUI’S STATEMENT ’DISRESPECTFUL’
Indonesia is not just the MUI, said Dede Oetomo, a university lecturer and LGBTQ rights advocate, who added that he had been invited to an online audience with the U.S. envoy next week.

"Indonesia is diverse. There are also people who are gay," Dede told BenarNews.

He called the MUI’s statement on Stern’s visit "disrespectful" and "not in accordance with the etiquette of international relations."

Andreas Harsono, an Indonesia researcher for the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), said the MUI had no power to stop Stern from visiting Indonesia.

"In any good country, someone like Jessica Stern ... is welcomed to visit especially as she is going to talk about an important issue," he told BenarNews.

"LGBT rights — whether you like it or not — is a very important issue."
Link


Afghanistan
Suicide Attack Kills Taliban Prominent Cleric in Afghan Capital, Funeral in Jalalabad
2022-08-13
[KhaamaPress] Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqani, a prominent Taliban
...Arabic for students...
figure, was killed in a suicide kaboom on a seminary in Kabul, the Afghan capital, on Thursday when the attacker blew explosives placed in a prosthetic leg, according to Taliban authorities and sources.

Taliban’s deputy spokesperson, Bilal Karimi, confirmed the veracity of the incident and stated that the earth-shattering kaboom happened in the Shash Darak area of Kabul’s Police District 2 "martyred" Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqani.

According to four Taliban sources, the assailant had previously lost a leg and had stashed the explosives in a plastic prosthetic leg, Rooters reported.

He had previously been a target of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(IS) group, albeit it is now unclear who killed him as no group has grabbed credit.

Sheikh Haqqani was a steadfast opponent of the Islamic State Khorasan Province (IS-K), and a supporter of the Taliban administration.

He was among the Taliban officials who supported the education of women and girls, in a BBC interview, he stated that no rationale in Sharia law prohibits female education.

Since taking control when international forces began to withdraw almost a year ago, the Taliban claim to have restored security. However,
the hip bone's connected to the leg bone...
there have been frequent attacks in recent months, many of which have been claimed by Islamic State.

Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqani's Funeral Held in Jalalabad

[ToloNews] The religious holy man Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqani's funeral ceremony was held on Friday in Jalalabad city, the center of Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
province. Haqqani was killed in a blast at his seminary in Kabul on Thursday.

This religious holy man was one of the people close to the Islamic Emirate and there had been a previous attempt to kill him in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistain's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire...
"This is a significant loss for Afghan science, for Afghanistan, and for the Mujahideen. The Mujahideen lost a capable coach and instructor," said Higher Education Minister Mawlawi Abdul Baqi Haqqani.

In addition to Rahimullah Haqqani, two other people were also killed and six people were maimed in this incident.

Prior to this, Rahimullah Haqqani was in charge of a religious school in Peshawar; once the Islamic Emirate returned to power, he moved the institution to Kabul.
Radio Free Europe adds:
A prominent Hanafi cleric and supporter of the Taliban has been killed in an explosion in Kabul, a spokesman for the Taliban-led government said on August 11.

Rahimullah Haqqani was killed "in an attack carried out by a cowardly enemy" in his religious school, said Bilal Karimi, the deputy spokesman for the Taliban government.

The government has not commented further on the attack, which several news reports said was carried out by a suicide bomber inside Haqqani's madrasah, a school for religious education.

One of Haqqani's brothers was also killed in the attack, said Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran. Three other people were wounded, Zadran said.

The extremist Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, according to its channel on Telegram.

Haqqani was one of the most "prominent advocates for the Taliban and one of the biggest of them who incited to fight," the jihadist-monitoring SITE Intelligence Group said, quoting a statement from Islamic State.

RFE/RL's Radio Azadi quoted a source as saying a disabled person attacked Haqqani and that at least six other people were killed. The attacker was someone who had previously lost his leg and hid the explosives in a plastic prosthesis, according to Reuters, quoting four unidentified sources.

Haqqani, originally from Nangarhar Province, was an important Taliban supporter and a famous scholar of Hanafi Islam. He was known for having heated religious discussions with Salafi religious scholars.

Although nothing is known about Haqqani's official position in the Taliban government, he was said to be a member of the Taliban Ulama Council.

He had hundreds of religious students in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, and some of the current ruling Taliban officials are also among his students.

"Rahimullah Haqqani was an admirer of Taliban suicide bombers in the past, and eventually he became a victim of a suicide attack himself," Sami Yousafzai, an Afghan journalist told Radio Azadi.

Another famous scholar of the Salafist religion, Sardar Wali Saqib, was mysteriously killed on July 13 at his home in Kabul.
Link


Olde Tyme Religion
New Chief of Indonesia’s Largest Islamic Group Seeks to Reform Orthodox Doctrines
2022-01-15
[BenarNews] The new leader of Indonesia’s largest Moslem organization is calling for the reform of orthodox Islamic doctrines which, he says, are incompatible with modern realities in the 21st century.

A tradition of tolerance that Moslems across the Indonesian archipelago have practiced for centuries could be an antidote for religious extremism and contribute to global peace, according to Yahya Cholil Staquf, the chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama.

"We will continue our efforts to strengthen Islamic civilization, which has grown and developed in Indonesia for a long time and has been proven up to now to be able to maintain a harmonious socio-cultural order, despite diversity," Yahya told BenarNews during an interview after being elected as the new chief of NU in late December.
Link


Afghanistan
Karzai, Abdullah house-arrested by Taliban in Kabul
2021-08-27
Yesterday it was announced they’re to join the Taliban ruling council, but now it looks considerably less like a sinecure.
[KhaamaPress] Sources have confirmed to the Khaama Press that former President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
...A product, and probably the sole product, of the Southern Alliance...
and head of High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah
...the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against both Karzai and Ghani. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun. He also held the meaningless salaried sop position as CEO of Afghanistan, while Ghani was president...
are house-arrested by the Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
and are not allowed to go out.
that's kinda what "house arrest" means
Sources also said that the two are only allowed to meet people at their respective residences.

As per the sources, Hamid Karzai is now living in Abdullah’s home.

Ever since former president Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University, ex-president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. When Biden abandoned the country left with a helicopter, four cars, and part of the national treasury...
fled the country, Hamid Karzai, Abdullah Abdullah, and Gulbadin Hekmatyar are the only political figures who are holding frequent meetings in Kabul both with the Taliban leadership and tribal elders.

The trio who have also created a council are said to be members of the 12-member grand council which is planned by the Taliban to be leading the upcoming government.

It is still not clear whether the three will have executive authority in the upcoming council.

The Taliban are still busy discussing the format of the upcoming government but have frequently promised to be forging an all-inclusive government.

Acting minister of culture and information and spokesperson of the Afghanistan Islamic Emirate Zabiullah Mujahid in a presser in Kabul had said that the religious scholars-Ulama- will be leading the government.
Link


Southeast Asia
Soldiers Wounded as Philippine Govt Forces Overrun Militant Lair in South
2021-03-05
[BenarNews] At least five government soldiers were maimed during an intense firefight with a band of Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
-linked hard boyz in the southern Philippines, the military said Thursday.

A gunbattle broke out and lasted several hours after members of the 55th Infantry Battalion assaulted a suspected lair of the Daulah Islamiyah-Maute Group
...founded by brothers Omar and Abdullah Maute in 2013 as a proto-Islamic State for their relations and their friends and their relations’ friends. Like Osama bin Laden, they came from a wealthy and politically connected family, and like him they fell in love with the Wahhabi outlook during or following a fancy education abroad. After falling out with Commander Bravo of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in 2014, they built a coalition of pro-Islamic State groups that transcended clan, including Isnilon Hapilon’s faction of Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic State cell from the town of Cotabato; and Ansharul Khalifa Philippines (AKP) based in Sultan Kudarat. In 2016 they swore allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, calling themselves Daulah Islamiyah-Ranao, and in 2017 they conquered Marawi City, which brought immediate and thorough Philippine army attention...
in the hinterlands of Lanao del Sur province on Wednesday, military officials said.

"Five soldiers sustained minor injuries during the firefight and have been given medical attention," battalion commander Lt. Col. Franco Rafael Alano said.

Government security officials said there were no immediate reports of casualties on the enemy side, a local Death Eater group that had helped lead hundreds of pro-Islamic State (IS) fighters from the Philippines and other countries in a siege on the southern city of Marawi in 2017. Hundreds of fighters on both sides, as well as non-combatants were killed in a five-month battle then.

Alano said Wednesday’s firefight occurred in a remote village in the mountains outside the town of Madalum, where the enemy side dug in for five hours before escaping.

Troops recovered a home-made bomb, bomb-making materials, assorted ammunition, food rations and personal items, he said.

Baby paraphernalia was also recovered, indicating that an infant and its mother were in the company of the Death Eaters, Alano said.

"It was clear evidence of the terrorists’ disregard for the safety of their family members," he said.

The Death Eater group, he said, had been trying to build up its forces ever since their defeat in Marawi nearly four years ago. Those involved in the firefight in Lanao del Sur this week were part of its recruitment team, he added.

The clash took place a day after a suspected Dawlah Islamiyah member surrendered amid a military offensive against the group in the province, authorities said.

Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan Jr., chief of the military’s Western Mindanao Command, identified the member as Amirudin Dimakuta, 40, according to the state-run Philippine News Agency.
Related:
Maute Group: 2019-09-18 A new generation is taking up the mantle in the fight against terrorism.
Maute Group: 2018-11-15 Maute brothers' teen cousin surrenders in Mindanao
Maute Group: 2018-11-03 Terror groups that continue to target the Philippines and its ASEAN neighbors
Related:
Lanao del Sur province: 2018-06-19 Philippine airstrikes target ISIS-linked militants near Marawi
Lanao del Sur province: 2018-04-30 Three Islamist insurgents surrender in Mindanao
Lanao del Sur province: 2017-10-08 Doctor accused in NYC terror plots nabbed in Philippines
Related:
Daulah Islamiyah: 2020-09-28 Philippine Police: Arrested Militant Recruited Fighters for IS-Linked Group
Daulah Islamiyah: 2019-05-13 Three IS militants nabbed in Mindanao
Daulah Islamiyah: 2017-08-18 Ulamas who signed fatwa condemning Maute get threats
Link


Africa Subsaharan
S Africa minister apologises for police officer's anti-Muslim rant
2020-04-27
[AlAhram] South Africa's police minister on Sunday apologised for a "blasphemous" remark made to praying Moslems by a policeman enforcing coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
rules, which was also condemned by a leading Moslem organization after being caught on video.
A video posted on social media and authenticated by the authorities shows police entering a room where around 20 Moslems were praying, and ordering them to the ground.

One of the police is heard saying "Are you bigger than the president? Is Mohammed bigger than the president?"

South Africans are under orders to observe strict confinement to fight the virus spread, and are allowed to leave their homes only to buy food or for medical appointments. Any gatherings are strictly prohibited.

Minister Bheki Cele said in the statement he had "issued an apology to the Moslem community for the blasphemous remarks during the arrest".

An "urgent investigation" had been launched "to establish the identity of the person behind such sacrilege".

The police, in a separate statement, said the comment was "rather unfortunate and it is unacceptable that someone could make such an utterance".

It did, however, also say that people of all religions had to respect rules during the confinement.

The Jamaatul Ulama South Africa Council of Moslem Theologians said not only were the remarks "demeaning in the name of the prophet Muhammad", but police entering a prayer room with "their heavy boots", as seen in the video, was "distressing to Moslems who consider prayer places as sacred".

But it also reminded the faithful to observe lockdown rules.

The incident, on Saturday in the Mpumalanga province in the north of the country, led to the arrest of 24 people.

On Friday, police had already detained 17 people at a religious ceremony for violating lockdown rules.

South Africa is the worst-affected sub-Saharan country by the coronavirus with 4,361 confirmed cases and 86 deaths.
Link


Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan Islamic clerics seek clarity on face veil ban
2019-08-28
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Islamic holy mans in Sri Lanka asked Moslem women on Tuesday to continue to avoid wearing face veils until the government clarifies whether they are once again allowed now that emergency rule has ended four months after a string of suicide kabooms.

Clerics are wary of the Moslem community being targeted again for violence, as it was in the aftermath of April’s Easter Sunday attacks that killed more than 260 people, said Fazil Farook, front man for All Ceylon Jammiyyathul Ulama, Sri Lanka’s largest group of Islamic holy mans. Two local radical Moslem groups have been blamed for the attacks.

Farook urged Moslem women not to rush into wearing their veils again.
"Except you with the mustaches. Cover that sh*t up!"
"They have managed in the past and we are asking them to do it the same way," Farook said, adding that some women have refused to be seen in public without covering their faces because they had been accustomed to it.

After the Easter attacks on three churches and three tourist hotels, Sri Lanka’s government brought the country under emergency rule, giving sweeping search, arrest and detention powers to the military and police. President Maithripala Sirisena also used the emergency law to issue a decree banning covering faces in all manners, including face veils.

Emergency rule had been extended each month until last week, when Sirisena allowed the law to lapse. He issued a separate order allowing the military to maintain peace.

Related:
Sri Lanka: 2019-08-24 Sri Lanka ends emergency four months after Easter attacks
Sri Lanka: 2019-08-12 Pope Francis Proposes ‘Europe First’ Against Populist Nationalism
Sri Lanka: 2019-07-31 Sri Lanka’s Muslim ministers who resigned en masse after deadly Easter Sunday bombings have rejoined gov’t
Related:
Islamic clerics: 2018-06-22 U.S. Citizen Found Guilty of 'Attempting To Provide Material Support to ISIS'
Islamic clerics: 2015-10-03 Cairo University bans teachers from wearing face veil
Islamic clerics: 2014-04-17 Prince Charles refused to back Salman Rushdie over Satanic Verses fatwa
Related:
Face veils : 2018-10-24 UN committee slams French 'burqa ban' for 'violating' rights
Face veils : 2017-10-19 Quebec Bars People in Face Coverings From Receiving Public Services
Face veils : 2017-09-17 Brussels airport deports Danish woman wearing niqab
Related:
Maithripala Sirisena: 2019-08-24 Sri Lanka ends emergency four months after Easter attacks
Maithripala Sirisena: 2019-07-17 Drug gangs were behind Easter bombings, blabbers Lankan president
Maithripala Sirisena: 2019-07-07 Sri Lanka president vetoes military deal with the US
Link


Bangladesh
Court issues arrest warrant for Oikya Front’s Sunamganj 1 candidate
2018-12-20
[Dhaka Tribune] 'A case has been filed against Maulana Shahinur Pasha for the embezzlement of Tk322,000 by fraudulence from a businessman'

A Sylhet court has issued an arrest warrant for Maulana Shahinur Pasha Chowdhury, JatiyaOikya Front’s Sunamganj 3 candidate.

The court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate of Sylhet issued the warrant on a fraud charge against the Jamaat Ulama-e-Islam Bangladesh central vice-president on Tuesday.

Additional Public Prosecutor Mahfuzur Rahman confirmed the matter to the Dhaka Tribune.

He said:"A case has been filed against Maulana Shahinur Pasha for the embezzlement of Tk322,000 by fraudulence from a businessman."

The plaintiff in the case, Mohammad Ali Talukder, a UK resident who also lives in the capital’s Banani area, said Pasha offered him a directorship in his real estate agency. Since November 4, 2012, Ali has been giving money in installments to Pasha.

Later, Pasha sold the enterprise without Ali’s knowledge and did not return his investment money, forcing Ali to file a fraudulence case against him.
Link



Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-12 More