Due To Ramadan, Embassy In Indonesia Celebrates 4th Of July Early

The U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, celebrated our Independence Day on June 4th instead of July 4th, because it falls smack dab in the middle of the ever changing month of Ramadan, and US diplomats decided they did not want to offend. This year Ramadan starts on June 18th. Last year it started June 28th, in 2010 on August 11.

Ambassador to Indonesia Robert O. Blake and US Ambassador to ASEAN Nina Hachigian presided over the festivities, which involved brass band renditions of the Star-Spangled Banner and the Indonesian national anthem, Indonesia Raya.

[snip]

He also praised Indonesia’s performance as a fully functioning democracy, aiming for further collaboration between the two countries in the years to come.

“The US will continue to support Indonesia in the future through its democratic achievements. Democracy is an American value which we have championed since [the country’s birth in] 1776,” Blake told the crowd during the festivities at his residence near Taman Suropati, Central Jakarta, on Thursday.

U.S. dhimmitude at its very best.

Source: Jakarta Post

Designer DKNY Goes Ramadan

American designer Donna Karan has added a for-Muslim-women line to DKNY.

Two Middle Eastern women designed the conservative outfits which are debuting as the Ramadan Summer 2014 collection.



Yalda Golsharifi is the fashion editor of Styles Magazine, and designer Tamara al-Gabbani is based in Dubai.

The line boasts long, flowing dresses, skirts, and jumpsuits; long-sleeved shirts, coats, and even a three-quarters-length leather jacket.

Bina Shah, writing for The Independent, says the result is a collection that is “inspirational for Muslim women looking for ways to be glam and modest at the same time.

“The fabrics drape around the body, encasing the curves that nature gave Middle Eastern women without making them obvious, or attempting to disguise them in bag-like abayas. They walk the fine line between cosmopolitan and conservative, luxurious and ostentatious,” she added.

Per Al Arabiya:

According to Shah, DKNY had included a saying of the Prophet Mohammad on their website: “Ramadan is the month whose beginning is mercy, whose middle is forgiveness and whose end is freedom from fire.” However, they had reportedly edited the saying to remove the words “from fire.”

Shah asserted that “this can be corrected immediately, either by removing the quote completely or using the quote in totality and telling us who said it. If you’re going to appeal to Muslims, half-measures like these won’t work; authenticity is the key element in making concepts like these a success.”

As far as I can tell, they removed the whole phrase because I couldn't find it on the DKNY website. Maybe you can.

Nothing wrong with modest clothing, but dang they're ugly. Then again, didn't find anything appealing in the non-Ramadan line either.

The collection is only available in DKNY stores in the Middle East:  UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.  Who knew they had a location in Iraq. They'll be selling burqas out of that store once ISIS takes hold of the country.

Muslim Jailbirds To Get Eid Treats In The UK

Over 400 Muslim criminals across England are getting Eid al-Fitr treats to celebrate the end of Ramadan, thanks to the London-based Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC). In their care-package they'll be getting:

 ..halal sweets, organic tooth chews, pocket-sized prayer books and Eid cards that prisoners can send to their loved ones.

What the heck are organic tooth chews?

Abid Choudhry decided last year that even jail inmates deserved something special to help them feel less "isolated from the community" and the "religious calender as it were,"  never mind they're in prison for a reason and not at some holiday camp. Maybe those 400 or so prisoners- of an estimated 11,000 plus inmates in British jails- aren't hard core murderers or rapists, but they still committed some kind of criminal act that landed them in jail, so how religious can they be?

They didn't cost much- $3.00 or so per package- and they're not funded by the British taxpayer, since they were paid through donations made to the IHRC, but still.  We need to stop pandering to religious jailbirds of all faiths.

Source: Al Arabiya

Egyptian Blogger Talks About Anti-Jewish Propaganda During Ramadan

Egyptian Muslim blogger Hussein Aboubakr talks about the anti-Semitism that is propagated during Ramadan through media, television programming and mosques.

From the days of my early childhood in Egypt, anti-Semitism was not only a common phenomenon, it has been a national characteristic of my country. From Alexandria to Aswan, in every city and small town along the Nile river, anti-Jewish propaganda can be easily found in mosques, bookstores, on the radio, in newspapers and on TV.

Learning to hate Jews starts in Egypt the first moment you learn about their existence and continues long into adulthood. I am so used to seeing Jews identified by the old traditional Middle Ages stereotype as mean, filthy, greedy dishonest conspirators out to cause global chaos and disharmony among the Egyptian people. Bit by bit I learned all the elements and causes of religious and secular hatred of Jews in Egyptian society. I still recall the time when, as a 13-year-old, I got to experience the broadcast of the Ramadan special: “A Horseless Knight,” a TV series watched widely across Egypt telling the story of the Jewish conspiracy to dominate humanity, as recorded in the “Elder’s Protocols.” The TV series spurred a large growth in sales of countless copies of the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” in Egypt.

The rest on the Times of Israel.

Unaccompanied Women Banned From Shopping In Northwest Pakistan

More ignorance from tribal northwest Pakistan. Clerics have declared that women must be accompanied by a male relative if they want to shop because it spreads "vulgarity and spoils men's fasting during Ramadan." No-one knows if the ban is permanent or just during the month of Ramadan. Local Karak district police, however, have said they won't enforce the ban.

Source: RFE/RL

Two Malaysians Could Get Jail For Posting Pork Stew Photos On Facebook

Two young Malaysian ethnic Chinese non-Muslims could be jailed for up to eight years for "sedition" and "inciting religious enmity."  Their horrific crime?  Posting Ramadan greetings on Facebook along with a photo of the two of them chowing down on pork stew. Insensitive, I guess, foolish, most definitely, considering  the majority of the Malaysian population is Muslim, and everything seems to offend them. But 8 years in prison?
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Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee pleaded not guilty since they claimed the photo was posted in jest, but they will have to remain in jail since the Kuala Lumpur courts refused to set bail.

Malaysia’s attorney general, Abdul Gani Patail, said in a statement that authorities want them detained because “they have the potential to upload content that could stir public anger.” They were expected to be placed in separate prisons ahead of a preliminary hearing Aug. 24 to schedule trial dates.

Since Muslims are fasting this month it was probably not a great idea to do what they did, but they're young- in their twenties.

Normal folk just chastise or unfriend someone on Facebook if they are offended by a post, not so in this case.

UK's Channel 4 To Air Muslim Call To Prayer During Ramadan

UK's Channel 4 has decided to broadcast the three minute Muslim call to prayer (Azan or Adhan) at around 3 a.m. every morning during the entire month of Ramadan.  They chose to do that as a deliberate act of provocation for those who link Islam with extremism. Ramadan begins on July 9th, this year.

Ralph Lee, Channel 4's head of factual programming, said: "The calls to prayer prompt Muslims to carry out quiet moments of worship, but hopefully they'll also make other viewers sit up and notice that this event is taking place.

"Observing the adhan on Channel 4 will act as a nationwide tannoy system, a deliberate 'provocation' to all our viewers in the very real sense of the word."

Lee added in an article in the Radio Times: "No doubt Channel 4 will be criticised for focusing attention on a 'minority' religion but that's what we're here to do – provide space for the alternative and a voice to the under-represented.

"Following the horrific events in Woolwich and subsequent reprisals against British Muslims, there has surely never been a more pressing need to give a voice to the moderate mainstream majority. And let's not forget that Islam is one of the few religions that's flourishing, actually increasing in the UK. Like Channel 4's target audience, its followers are young. It's recently been reported that half of British Muslims are under 25."

The Muslim Council of Britain supported Channel 4's move.

"This is a very special month for Muslims and its recognition on a mainstream channel is not only symbolic for belonging and solidarity but will hopefully help to portray a more realistic account of Islam and Muslims," said a spokesman.

In addition to the call to prayer they have other things planned, including short films- Ramadan Reflections-  which will air prior to the Azan.

It's Ramadan and The Killing Goes On- Roundup of Violence

It's still Ramadan, the holiest of Muslim holidays, and you'd think they'd take a little break from all the violence and bloodshed that has become synonymous with Islam. But no, the carnage continues.

Afghanistan was the center of a series of suicide bombings and attacks on Tuesday that killed more than 41 people and wounded more than 138. Touted as one of the bloodiest days this year, three bombings in different regions of Afghanistan claimed the lives of innocent men, women and children. Several bazaars and a government gas station were just some of the targets, and to show just how evil these people are, another bomb targeted the wounded who had been transported to a hospital, causing even more casualties.

Gen. John R. Allen, NATO commander, asked Taliban leader Mullah Omar to:

"..rein in his murderers." "What we saw today were further acts of intentional mass murder. By targeting innocent civilians in populated areas, the insurgents have again shown they will kill non-combatants without hesitation to advance their backward looking plans for Afghanistan."

And they really think peace with the Taliban is possible.

Then there was all that action in Iraq. 14 were killed  during the past week. In fact, July (Ramadan started July 20) was the deadliest month since August 2010.

Al-Qaeda affiliated militants singled out eight 16 to 20-year-old Shia Muslim men, executing them after allowing the rest of the group of 25 to leave unharmed. The others happened to be Sunnis. As they are apt to do, they too left a roadside bomb under one of the dead bodies as a present for the first responders, for maximum body count, you know- 4 policemen were wounded.

Then there's the six young Arabs who were swimming in Amerli, Iraq when they were shot dead by men on motorcycles. And the Sunni police that were attacked and killed, and the two Sunni government employees who were murdered (just so you know it's not just Shi'ites who are targets.) And all the others the past 30 days. 325 killed in July alone, and there have been attacks every day in August in Iraq.

And lets' not forget the bloodbath that's taking place in Syria during Ramadan. 

Saudi Arabian Non-Muslims Could Be Deported For Not Respecting Ramadan Fast

I'm of the mind that if you choose to move to another land/culture you need to integrate, and follow the rules of your newly adopted country. This does not happen often in the West. Though some immigrants do make the effort to assimilate, many don't. They tend to congregate in certain areas, and segregate themselves from the rest of the population. They refuse to learn the language and insist on forcing their ways on others. I don't mind cultural, ethnic and religious differences, just don't impose them on me.

That said, the latest official edict out of Saudi Arabia doesn't bother me one bit.

The Interior Ministry has told non-Muslim expats that they better not flaunt food in front of Muslims during Ramadan (which just started, and lasts a month) or they could be fired and/or deported.

“The non-Muslim expatriates in this country should respect the sentiments of Muslims by not eating, drinking and smoking in public places, including roads and workplaces,” stated an Interior Ministry statement issued by the Saudi Press Agency, adding that violators will be either deported or sacked.

The ministry said that eating and drinking openly are seen as an embarrassment to Muslims, as abstaining from food and drinks from sunrise till sunset are one of the visible features of Ramadan that must be respected.

“Being a non-believer of Islam does not exempt an expatriate from being inconsiderate of the feelings of Muslims and the Islamic symbols of this country.”

They aren't forcing non-Muslims to honor the fast, just not to pig out in public. Fair enough, you live in a Muslim country, you follow their rules. And come August 18, they can start eating in public again.

Too bad so many Muslims don't "respect the sentiments" of non-Muslims in the West. Maybe we should threaten to deport Muslims (and others) who refuse to follow our rules.