renegadetribune--2019-06-25--In Israel the Push to Destroy Jerusalems Iconic Al-Aqsa Mosque Goes Mainstream

The iconic golden dome of the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque, located on the Temple Mount or Haram el-Sharif, is the third holiest site in Islam and is recognized throughout the world as a symbol of the city of Jerusalem. Yet, this ancient site that dates back to the year 705 C.E. is being targeted for destruction by increasingly influential extremist groups that seek to erase Jerusalem’s Muslim heritage in pursuit of colonial ambitions and the fulfillment of end-times prophecy.  Some observers may have noticed the growing effort by some Israeli government and religious officials to remove the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque from the Jerusalem skyline, not only erasing the holy site in official posters, banners and educational material but also physically removing the building itself. For instance, current Knesset member of the ruling Likud Party, American-born Yehuda Glick, was also the director of the government-funded Temple Institute, which has created relics and detailed architectural plans for a temple that they hope will soon replace Al-Aqsa. Glick is also close friends with Yehuda Etzion, who was part of a failed plot in 1984 to blow up Al-Aqsa mosque and served prison time as a result.  “In the end we’ll build the temple and it will be a house of prayer for all nations,” Glick told Israeli newspaper Maariv in 2012. A year later, Israel’s Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel stated that “[w]e’ve built many little, little temples…but we need to build a real Temple on the Temple Mount.” Ariel stated that the new Jewish Temple must be built on the site where Al-Aqsa currently sits “as it is at the forefront of Jewish salvation.” Since then, prominent Israeli politicians have become more and more overt in their support for the end of Jordanian-Palestinian sovereignty over the mosque compound, leading many prominent Palestinians to warn in recent years of plans to destroy the mosque.  In recent years, a centuries-old effort by what was once a small group of extremists has gone increasingly mainstream in Israel, with prominent politicians, religious figures and political parties advocating for the destruction of the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque in order to fulfill a specific interpretation of an end-times prophecy that was once considered fringe among practitioners of Judaism.  As Miko Peled, Israeli author and human-rights activist, told MintPress, the movement to destroy Al-Aqsa and replace it with a reimagined Temple “became notable after the 1967 war,” and has since grown into “a massive colonial project that uses religious, biblical mythology and symbols to justify its actions” — a project now garnering support from both religious and secular Israelis.  While the push to destroy Al-Aqsa and replace it with a physical Third Temple has gained traction in Israel in recent years, this effort has advanced at a remarkably fast pace in just the past few weeks, owing to a confluence of factors. These factors, as this report will show, include the upcoming revelation of the so-called “Deal of the Century,” the push for a war with Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and the Trump administration’s dramatic lenience in regards to the activity of Jewish extremist groups and extremist settlements in Israel.  These factors correlate with a quickening of efforts to destroy Al-Aqsa and the very real danger the centuries-old holy site faces. While the U.S. press has occasionally mentioned the role of religious extremism in dictating the foreign policy of prominent U.S. politicians like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, it has rarely shone a light on the role of Jewish extremism in directing Israel’s foreign policy — foreign policy that, in turn, is well-known to influence American policies.  When taken together, the threats to Al-Aqsa are clearly revealed to be much greater than the loss of a physical building, though that itself would be a grave loss for the world’s Muslim community, which includes over 1.8 billion people. In addition, the site’s destruction would very likely result in a regional and perhaps even global war with clear religious dimensions.  To prevent such an outcome, it is essential to highlight the role that extremist, apocalyptic interpretations of both the Jewish and Christian faiths are playing in trends that, if left unchecked, could have truly terrifying consequences. Both of these extremist groups are heavily influenced by colonial ambitions that often supersede their religious underpinning.  In Part I of this two-part series, MintPress examines the growth of extremist movements in Israel that openly promote the destruction of Al-Aqsa, from a relatively isolated fringe movement within Zionism to mainstream prominence in Israel today; as well as how threats to the historic mosque have grown precipitously in just the past month. MintPress interviewed Israeli author and activist Miko Peled; Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss of Neturei Karta in New York; Imam and scholar of Shia Islam, Sayed Hassan Al-Qazwini, of the Islamic Institute of America; and Palestinian journalist and academic Ramzy Baroud for their perspectives on these extremist groups, their growing popularity, and the increasing threats to the current status quo at Haram El-Sharif/Temple Mount.  The second part of this series will detail the influence of this extremist movement in Israeli politics as well as American politics, particularly among Christian Zionist politicians in the United States. The ways in which this movement’s goal have also influenced Israeli and U.S. policy — particularly in relation to the so-called “Deal of the Century,” President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and the push for war against Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah — will also be examined.  Though efforts to wrest the contested holy site from Jordanian and Palestinian control have picked up dramatically in recent weeks, the Al-Aqsa mosque compound had long been targeted prior to Israel’s founding and even prior to the formation of the modern Zionist movement.  For instance, Rabbi Zvi Hirsh Kalisher — who promoted the European Jewish colonization of Palestine from a religious perspective well before Zionism became a movement — expounded on an early form of what would later be labeled “religious Zionism” and was particularly interested in the acquisition of Haram el-Sharif (i.e., the Temple Mount) as a means of fulfilling prophecy.  As noted in the essay “Proto-Zionism and its Proto-Herzl: The Philosophy and Efforts of Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalisher” by Sam Lehman-Wilzig, Professor of Israeli Politics and Judaic Studies at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, Kalisher sought to court wealthy European Jews to finance the purchase of Israel for the purpose of resettlement, particularly the Temple Mount. In an 1836 letter to Baron Amschel Rothschild, Kalisher suggested that the eldest brother of the wealthy banker family use his abundant funds to bring Jewish sovereignty to Palestine, specifically Jerusalem and the Temple Mount:  Kalisher’s request was met with a noncommittal response from Baron Rothschild, leading Kalisher to pursue other wealthy European Jewish families, like the Montefiores, with the same goal in mind. And, though Kalisher was initially unsuccessful in winning the support of the Rothschild family, other notable members of the wealthy European banking dynasty eventually did become enthusiastic supporters of Zionism in the decades that followed.  Kalisher was also influential in another way, as he was arguably the first modern Rabbi to reject the idea of patiently waiting for God to fulfill prophecy and proposed instead that man should take concrete steps that would lead to the fulfillment of such prophecies, a belief that Kalisher described as “self help.” For Kalisher, settling European Jews in Palestine was but the first step, to be followed by other steps that would form an active as opposed to a passive approach towards Jewish Messianism. These subsequent steps included the construction of a Third Temple, to replace the Second Temple destroyed by the Romans around the year 70 C.E., and the reinitiation of ritual animal sacrifices in that Temple, which Kalisher believed could only be placed on the Temple Mount, where Al-Aqsa then sat and still sits.  Kalisher wasn’t alone in his views, as his contemporary, Rabbi Judah Alkalai, wrote the following in his book Shalom Yerushalayim:  Though Kalisher wasn’t the lone voice promoting these ideas, his beliefs — aside from promoting the physical settlement of European Jews in Palestine — remained relatively fringe for decades, if not more than a century, as secular Jews were hugely influential in the Zionist movement after its official formation. However, prominent religious Zionists did influence the Zionist movement in key ways prior to Israel’s founding. One such figure was Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, who sought to reconcile Zionism and Orthodox Judaism as the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Palestine, a position he assumed in 1924.  Yet, Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss of Neturei Karta, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish group based in New York that opposes Zionism, told MintPress that many religious Zionists have since latched onto Kalisher’s ideas, which were widely rejected during his lifetime, in order to justify neocolonial actions sought by secular Zionists. “This rabbi, at the time, other rabbis ‘roared’ against him and his beliefs weren’t accepted,” Rabbi Weiss stated, “But now, the ones who are talking about building this Third Temple….these are Zionists and they have found some rabbi whose ideas benefit them that they have been using to justify Zionist acts” that are not aligned with Judaism “and make them kosher.”  Weiss further expanded on this point, noting that the participants of the modern religious Zionism movement that seek to build a new Jewish temple where Al-Aqsa currently stands are, at their core, Zionists who have used religious imagery and specific interpretations of religious texts as cover for neo-colonial acts, such as the complete re-making of the Temple Mount.  “It’s like a wolf in a sheepskin…These people who want to incorporate the teachings of this rabbi [Rabbi Kalisher] are proudly saying that they are Jewish, but are doing things Jews are forbidden from doing,” such as ascending to and standing upon the Temple Mount, which Rabbi Weiss stated was “a breach of Jewish law,” long forbidden by that law according to a consensus among Jewish scholars and rabbis around the world that continued well beyond the formation of the Zionist movement in the 19th century.  Rabbi Weiss noted that, for this reason, the Muslim community that has historically governed the area where Al-Aqsa mosque stands never had any problems with the Jewish community in relation to the Temple Mount, as it has been known for centuries that Jews cannot ascend to the area where the mosque currently sits and instead prayed only at the Western Wall. He also stated that the prophetic idea of a Third Temple was, prior to Zionism, understood as indicating not a change in physical structures on the Temple Mount, but a metaphysical, spiritual change that would unite all of mankind to worship and serve God in unison.  Rabbi Weiss asserted that the conflict regarding Al-Aqsa mosque started only with the advent of Zionism and the associated neo-colonial ambition to fundamentally alter the status quo and structures present at the site as a means of erasing key parts (i.e., Palestinian parts) of its heritage. “This [the use of religion to justify ascending to and taking control of the Temple Mount] is a trap for conning other people into supporting them,” concluded the Rabbi.  Nonetheless, Kalisher’s impact can be seen in today’s Israel more than ever, thanks to the rise and mainstream acceptance within Israel of once-fringe elements of religious Zionism, which were deeply influenced by the ideas of rabbis like Kalisher and have served in recent decades as an incubator for some of Israel’s most radical political elements.  Meanwhile, as the debate within Judaism over the Temple Mount has changed dramatically since the 19th century, its significance in Islam has remained steadfast. According to Imam Sayed Hassan Al-Qazwini, “Al-Aqsa is the third holiest mosque in Islam…it is considered to be the place where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven and has been mentioned in the Qoran, which glorifies that mosque and identifies it as a blessed mosque. All Muslims, whether they are Sunni or Shia, revere that mosque” — a fact that has remained unchanged for over a millennium and continues to today.  The modern rise of the religious Zionist movements that promote the destruction of Al-Aqsa mosque and its replacement with a Third Jewish Temple is most often traced back to the Six Day War of 1967. According to Miko Peled, who recently wrote a piece for MintPress News regarding the threats facing Al-Aqsa, “religious Zionism” as a political force became more noticeable following the 1967 war. Peled told MintPress:  Peled further noted that this model, employed by the religious extremist groups that founded illegal West Bank settlements like Kiryat Arba, “has been used successfully since then and it is now used by the groups that are promoting the new Temple in place of Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.” He continued, pointing out that “whereas 20-30 years ago they were considered a fringe group, this year they expect more than 50,000 people to enter the compound to support the group and their goals. Religious Israeli youth who opt out of military service and choose national service instead may work with the [Third] Temple building organizations.”  Dr. Ramzy Baroud — journalist, academic and founder of The Palestine Chronicle — agreed with Peled’s sense that the Third Temple movement or Temple Activist movement has grown dramatically in recent years and has become increasingly mainstream in Israel. Baroud told MintPress:  However, Rabbi Weiss disagreed with Peled and Baroud that this faction presents a real threat to the mosque, given that the mosque’s destruction is widely rejected by Diaspora Jewry (i.e., Jews living outside of Israel) and that destroying it would not only cause conflicts with the global Muslim community but also numerous Jewish communities outside of Israel.  Weiss argued that many of these religious Zionists in Israel that are pushing for a new Temple “do not follow Jewish law to the letter and don’t come from the very religious communities, including the settlers…They don’t go to expressly religious schools, they go to Zionist schools. Their whole view is built on Zionism and [secondarily] incorporates the religion,” as opposed to the reverse. As a result, the destruction of the Al-Aqsa mosque, in Weiss’ view, could greatly alienate the state of Israel from these more religious and ultra-orthodox communities.  In addition, Rabbi Weiss felt that many Jewish and secular Israelis would also reject such a move because it would create even more conflicts, which many Israelis do not want. He described the Temple Activists as “a vocal minority” that represented a “fringe” among adherents to Judaism and a group within Zionism that has tried to use the Temple Mount “in order to be able to excuse their occupation and to try to portray this [the occupation of Palestine] as a religious conflict,” with the conflict surrounding the Temple Mount being an extension of that.  Weiss believed that the push to take over the Temple Mount was a “scare tactic” aimed at securing the indefinite nature of the occupation, and noted that many Israelis did not want a spike in or renewal of conflict that would inevitably result if the mosque were to be destroyed. He also added that he did not think there was a “real threat” of the mosque being targeted because international rabbinical authorities have stood fast in their opposition to the project promoted by the Temple Activists.  It is hardly a coincidence that the growth of Temple Activism and associated movements like “neo-Zionism” have paralleled the growth in threats to the Al-Aqsa mosque itself. Many of these threats can be understood through the doctrine developed by Rabbi Kalisher and others in the mid-19th century — the idea that “active” steps must be taken to bring about the reconstruction of a Jewish Temple at Haram El-Sharif in order to bring about the Messianic Age.  Indeed, during the 1967 war, General Shlomo Goren, the chief rabbi of the IDF, had told Chief of Central Command Uzi Narkiss that, shortly after Israel’s conquest of Jerusalem’s Old City, the moment had come to blow up the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock. “Do this and you will go down in history,” Goren told Narkiss. According to Tom Segev’s book 1967, Goren felt that the site’s destruction could only be done under the cover of war: “Tomorrow might be too late.”  Goren was among the first Israelis to arrive at the then-recently conquered Old City in Jerusalem and was joined at the newly “liberated” Al-Aqsa compound by a young Yisrael Ariel, who now is a major leader in the Temple Activist movement and head of the Temple Institute, which is dedicated to constructing a Third Temple where Al-Asqa mosque currently stands.  Narkiss rejected Goren’s request, but did approve the razing of Jerusalem’s Moroccan quarter. According to Mondoweiss, the destruction of the nearly seven centuries old Jerusalem neighborhood was done for the “holy purpose” of making the Western Wall more accessible to Jewish Israelis. Some 135 homes were flattened, along with several mosques, and over 700 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed as part of that operation.  Following the occupation of East Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa has come under increasing threat, just as extremist movements who seek to destroy the site have grown. In 1969, a Christian extremist from Australia, Daniel Rohan, set fire to the mosque. Rohan had been studying in Israel and, prior to committing arson, had told American theology student Arthur Jones, who was studying with Rohan, that he had become convinced that a new temple had to be built where Al-Aqsa stood.  Then, in 1984, a group of messianic extremists known as the Jewish Underground was arrested for plotting to use explosives to destroy Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock. Ehud Yatom, who was a security official and commander of the operation that foiled the plot, told Israel’s Channel 2 in 2004 that the planned destruction of the site would have been “horrible, terrible,” adding that it could provoke “the entire Muslim world [into a war] against the state of Israel and against the Western world, a war of religions.”  One of those arrested in 1984 in connection with the bomb plot, former Jewish Underground member Yehuda Etzion, subsequently wrote from prison that his group’s mistake was not in targeting the historic mosque, which he called an “abomination,” but in acting before Israeli society would accept such an act. “The generation was not ready,” Etzion wrote, adding that those sympathetic to the Jewish Underground movement “must build a new force that grows very slowly, moving its educational and social activity into a new leadership.”  “Of course I cannot predict whether the Dome of the Rock will be removed from the Mount while the new body is developing or after it actually leads the people,” Etzion stated, “but the clear fact is that the Mount will be purified [from Islamic shrines] with certainty…”  Upon his release from prison, Etzion founded the Chai Vekayam (Alive and Existing) movement, a group that Al Jazeera’s Mersiha Gadzo described as aimed at “shaping public opinion as a prerequisite for building a Third Temple in the religious complex in Jerusalem’s Old City where Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock are located.” Gadzo also notes that “according to messianic belief, building the Third Temple at the Al Aqsa compound — where the First and Second Temples stood some 2,000 years ago — would usher the coming of the Messiah.”  Six years later, another group called the Temple Mount Faithful, which is dedicated to building the Third Temple, provoked what became known as the Al-Aqsa massacre in 1990 after its members attempted to place a cornerstone for the Third Temple on the Temple Mount / Haram El-Sharif, leading to riots that saw Israeli police shoot and kill over 20 Palestinians and wound an estimated 150 more.  This was followed by the riots in 1996 after Israel opened up a series of tunnels that had been dug under Al-Aqsa mosque that many Palestinians worried would be used to damage or destroy the mosque. Those concerns may have been well-founded, given the involvement of then- and current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Third Temple activist groups in creating the tunnels and in subsequent excavations near the holy site, which were and continue to be officially described as “archaeological” in nature. During the 1996 incident, 80 Palestinians and 14 Israeli police officers were killed.  Some Israeli archaeologists have argued that these tunnels have not been built for archaeological or scientific purposes and are highly unlikely to result in any new discoveries. One such Israeli archaeologist, Yoram Tseverir, told Middle East Monitor in 2014 that “the claims that these excavations aim at finding scientific information are marginal” and called the still-ongoing government-sponsored excavations under Al-Aqsa “wrong.” When those “archaeological” excavations at Al-Aqsa resulted in damage to the Western Wall near Al-Aqsa last year, a chorus of prominent Palestinians, including the spokesman for the Fatah Party, claimed that Israel’s government had devised a plan to destroy the mosque.  Since 2000, Al-Aqsa mosque has been the site of incidents that have resulted in new state crackdowns by Israel against Palestinians both within and well outside of Jerusalem. Indeed, the Second Intifada was largely provoked by the visit of the then-Likud candidate for prime minister, Ariel Sharon, who entered Al-Aqsa mosque under heavy guard. Then-spokesman for Likud, Ofir Akounis, was later quoted by CNN as saying that the reason for Sharon’s visit was “to show that under a Likud government it [the Temple Mount] will remain under Israeli sovereignty.”  That single visit by Sharon led to five years of heightened tensions, more than three thousand dead Palestinians and an estimated thousand dead Israelis, as well as a massive and still continuing crackdown on Palestinians living under Israeli occupation and in the blockaded Gaza Strip.  Dr. Ramzy Baroud told MintPress that Sharon’s provocation in particular, and subsequent provocations, are often planned and used by Israeli politicians in order to justify crackdowns and restrictions on Palestinians. He argued:  While there have long been efforts to destroy the historic Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock, recent weeks have seen a disturbing and dramatic uptick in incidents that suggest that the influential groups in Israel that have long pushed for the mosque’ s destruction may soon get their way. This reflects what Ramzy Baroud described to MintPress as how support for the construction of the Third Temple where Al-Aqsa currently sits is now “greater than at any time in the past” within Israeli society.  Earlier this month on June 2, a religious adviser to the Palestinian Authority (PA), Mahmoud Al-Habbash, took to social media to warn of an “Israeli plot against the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” adding that “If the Muslims don’t act now [to save the site]… the entire world will pay dearly.”  Al-Habbash’s statement was likely influenced by a disturbing event that occurred that same day at the revered compound when Israeli police provided cover for extremist Israeli settlers who illegally entered the compound during the final days of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Israeli police used pepper spray and rubber bullets to disperse Palestinian worshippers who had gathered at the mosque during one of Islam’s most important holidays while allowing over a thousand Israeli Jews to enter the compound. Forty-five Palestinians were wounded and several were arrested.  Though such provocative visits by Jewish Israelis to Al-Aqsa have occurred with increasing frequency in recent years, this event was different because it up-ended a long-standing agreement between Jordan’s government, which manages the site, and Israel that no such visits take place during important Islamic holidays. As a consequence, Jordan accused Israel’s government of “flagrant violations” of that agreement by allowing visits from religious nationalists, which Jordan described as “provocative intrusions by extremists.”  Less than a week after the incident, Israel’s Culture and Sports Minister, Miri Regev, a member of the Netanyahu-led Likud Party, called for more settler extremists to storm the compound, stating: “We should do everything to keep ascending to the Temple Mount … And hopefully, soon we will pray in the Temple Mount, our sacred place.” In addition, Regev also thanked Israel’s Interior Security Minister, Gilad Erdan, and Jerusalem’s police chief for guarding the settler extremists who had entered the compound.  In 2013, then-member of the Likud Party Moshe Feiglin told the Knesset that allowing Jewish Israelis to enter the compound is “not about prayer.” “Arabs don’t mind that Jews pray to God. Why should they care? We all believe in God,” Feiglin — who now heads the Zehut, or Identity, Party — stated, adding, “The struggle is about sovereignty. That’s the true story here. The story is about one thing only: sovereignty.”  In other words, Likud and its ideological allies view granting Jewish Israelis entrance to “pray” at the site of the mosque as a strategy aimed at reducing Palestinian-Jordanian control over the site. Feiglin’s past comments give credibility to Rabbi Weiss’ claim, referenced earlier on in this report, that the religious underpinnings and religious appeals of the Temple Activists are secondary to the settler-colonial (i.e., Zionist) aspect of the movement, which seeks to remove Palestinian and Muslim heritage from the Temple Mount as part of the ongoing Zionist project.  Feiglin, earlier this year in April, called for the immediate construction of the Third Temple, telling a Tel Aviv conference, “I don’t want to build a [Third] Temple in one or two years, I want to build it now.” The Times of Israel, reporting on Feiglin’s comments, noted that the Israeli politician is “enjoying growing popularity.”  Earlier this month, and not long after Miri Regev’s controversial comments, an event attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Leon, used a banner that depicted the Jerusalem skyline with the Dome of the Rock noticeably absent. Though some may write off such creative photo editing as a fluke, it is but the latest in a series of similar incidents where official events or materials have edited out the iconic building and, in some cases, have replaced it with a reconstructed Jewish temple.  The day before that event, Israeli police had arrested three members of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound’s Reconstruction Committee, which is overseen by the government of Jordan. Those arrested included the committee’s head and its deputy head, and the three men were arrested while performing minor restoration work in an Al-Aqsa courtyard. The Jordan-run authority condemned the arrests, for which no official reason was given, and called the move by Israeli police “an intervention in their [the men’s] reconstruction work.” According to Palestinian news agency Safa, Israeli police have also prevented the entry of tools necessary for restoration work to the site and have restricted members of the authority from performing critical maintenance work.  In addition, another important figure at Al-Aqsa, Hanadi Al-Halawani, who teaches at the mosque school and has long watched over the site to prevent its occupation by Israeli forces, was arrested late last month.  Arrests of other key Al-Aqsa personnel have continued in recent days, such as the arrest of seven Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, including guards of the mosque, and their subsequent ban from entering the site. The Palestinians were arrested at their homes last Sunday night in early morning raids and the official reason for their arrest remains unclear. So many arrests in such a short period have raised concerns that, should the spate of arrests of important Al-Aqsa personnel continue, future incidents at the site, such as the mysterious firethat broke out last April at Al-Aqsa while France’s Notre Dame was also ablaze, may not be handled as effectively owing to staff shortages.  Soon after those arrests, 60 members of a settler extremist group entered the al-Aqsa compound under heavy guard from Israeli police. Safa news agency reported that these settlers have recently been accompanied by Israeli intelligence officials in their incursions at the site.  All of these recent provocations and arrests in connection with the mosque come soon after the King of Jordan, Abdullah II, publicly stated in late March that he had recently come under great pressure to relinquish Jordan’s custodianship of the mosque and the contested holy site upon which it is built. Abdullah II vowed to continue custodianship over Christian and Muslim sites in Jerusalem, including Al-Aqsa, and declined to say who was pressuring him over the site. However, his comments about this pressure to cede control over the mosque came just days after he had visited the U.S. and met with American Vice President Mike Pence, a Christian Zionist who believes that a Jewish Temple must replace Al-Aqsa to fulfill an end times prophecy.  In May, an Israeli government-linked research institute, the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, wrote that Abdullah II had nearly been toppled in mid-April, just weeks after publicly discussing external pressure to relinquish control over Al-Aqsa. The report stated that Abdullah II had been a target of a “plot undermining his rule,” which led him to replace several senior members of his government. That report further claimed that the plot had been aimed at removing obstacles to the Trump administration’s “Deal of the Century,” which is supported by Israel’s government.  Last year, some Israeli politicians sought to push for a transfer of the site’s custodianship to Saudi Arabia, sparking concern that this could be connected to plans by some Third Temple activists to remove Al-Aqsa from Jerusalem and transfer it piece-by-piece to the Saudi city of Mecca. On Thursday, the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs published an article asserting that “tectonic shifts” were taking place in relation to who controls Al-Aqsa, with a Saudi-funded political group making dramatic inroads that could soon alter which country controls the historic mosque compound.  Sayyed Hassan Al-Qazwini told MintPress that, in his view, the current custodianship involving Jordan’s government is not ideal, as control over the Al-Aqsa mosque “should in the hands of its people, [and] Al-Aqsa mosque belongs Palestine;” if not, at the very least, a committee of Muslim majority nations should be formed to govern the holy site because of its importance. As for Saudi Arabia potentially receiving control over the site, Al-Qazwini told MintPress that “the Saudis are not qualified as they are not even capable of running the holy sites in Saudi Arabia itself. Every year, there has been a tragedy and many pilgrims have died during hajj time [annual Islamic pilgrimage].”  The threat to Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock compound, the third holiest site in Islam and of key importance to three major world religions, is the result of the dramatic growth of what was once a fringe movement of extremists. After the Six Day War, these fringe elements have fought to become more mainstream within Israel and have sought to gain international support for their religious-colonialist vision, particularly in the United States. As this article has shown, the threats to Al-Aqsa have grown significantly in the past decades, spiking in just the past few weeks.  As former Jewish Underground member Yehuda Etzion had called for decades ago, an educational and social movement aimed at gaining influence with Israeli government leadership has been hugely successful in its goal of engineering consent for a Third Temple among many religious and secular Israelis. So successful has this movement been that numerous powerful and influential Israeli politicians, particularly since the 1990s, have not only openly promoted these beliefs, and the destruction of Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock, but have also diverted significant amounts of government funding to organizations dedicated to replacing the historic mosque with a new temple.  As the second and final installment of this series will show, this movement has gained powerful allies, not just in Israel’s government, but among many evangelical Christians in the United States, including top figures in the Trump administration who also feel that the destruction of Al-Aqsa and the reconstruction of a Jewish Temple are prerequisites for the fulfillment of prophecy, albeit a different one. Furthermore, given the influence of such movements on the Israeli and U.S. governments, these beliefs of active Messianism are also informing key policies of these same governments and, in doing so, are pushing the world towards a dangerous war.  Feature photo | Israeli police stand next to the Dome of the Rock mosque at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, July 27, 2017. Mahmoud Illean | AP  Whitney Webb is a MintPress News journalist based in Chile. She has contributed to several independent media outlets including Global Research, EcoWatch, the Ron Paul Institute and 21st Century Wire, among others. She has made several radio and television appearances and is the 2019 winner of the Serena Shim Award for Uncompromised Integrity in Journalism


rferl--2019-11-09--India's Supreme Court Awards Contested Site Of Destroyed Mosque To Hindus

India's Supreme Court has awarded a bitterly contested religious site in the north of the country to Hindus, dealing a defeat to Muslims who also claim the land that has ignited some of India's bloodiest riots since independence from British colonial rule.      The ruling on November 9 in the dispute between Hindu and Muslim groups clears the way for the construction of a Hindu temple on the site in the northern town of Ayodhya near the city of Faizabad.      The proposed construction of the Hindu temple has long been supported by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).      The judgment has been criticized as unfair by a lawyer for the Muslim group involved in the case.      But the Muslim organization that lost the case said it accepts the verdict and has called for peace between India's majority Hindus and Muslims, who constitute 14 percent of the country's 1.3 billion people.      A Hindu mob destroyed the 16th-century Babri Mosque on the site in 1992, triggering riots across the country in which about 2,000 people were killed -- most of them Muslims.      Court battles over the ownership of the site followed the destruction of the Babri Mosque.  Based on reporting by Reuters and AP


sottnet--2019-03-17--Build it and they will come Sweden Democrat proposes building mosque to attract immigrants up north

Build it and they will come: Sweden Democrat proposes building mosque to attract immigrants up north

A Sweden Democrat politician from Kramfors, on Sweden's northern Baltic coast, is facing possible expulsion after proposing that his municipality build a mosque to draw more immigrants to the city."My idea is that if you have a mosque and a cultural centre, then you empower the Muslims to be responsible for our town and the area up here," the told The Local. "Hopefully we will get a lot of them to come up and stay."The city, he said, was losing 100 people a year, whereas Västernorrland as a whole was losing as many as 500 citizens a year.Even the refugees housed in the municipality following the 2015 crisis had moved south as soon as they were able to, he complained."They left as well, and I don't blame them. They're very cosmopolitan and that's part of the trouble. They're very social and don't want to sit in a cabin watching snowflakes fall."But he said that he believed immigrants remained the group in Sweden the municipality had the best hope of attracting. "Who else is going to come up here?" he said. "The one group in Sweden that is mobile is the immigrant community, and they're very business minded, and that's what we need, because there are opportunities galore up here, but there's just not enough people."Collins moved to Sweden from the United States in 1974, after which he trained as a vet, setting up a clinic in Borrby, Skåne. He moved his clinic to Kramfors two years ago so that he and his Swedish wife could be near their son, who works as a doctor.Soon afterwards he was invited to stand as a Sweden Democrat in the council elections. "It's not a good idea electing an 'Irish genius'. It's not a good idea," he laughed, admitting that his motion had not gone been well received by other party members, especially since it was reported in the local Allehanda newspaper, and the Dagens Nyheter newspaper nationally."It's probably not gone down so well. I don't think they get it," he said. "I read on the internet that I'm going to get thrown out." Collins said that he had initially joined the party during the refugee wave of 2015, as he felt the Sweden Democrats were the only party willing openly and honestly to discuss the potential impacts of Sweden receiving such large numbers of immigrants."It was the only party that I felt was honest to me during the great immigration rush. The propaganda, the censorship. There was all this behind the scenes stuff going on and there wasn't an open debate about it, as there was in Denmark and Norway."But he said he believed the Sweden Democrats now needed to become a "future-looking party". "They lost the debate on immigration. They [the immigrants] are here. So we can't just sit around whining about it," he said. "It's over, and I think they [the Sweden Democrats] are having a hard time moving on."


sottnet--2019-03-17--Dozens of Jewish settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem

On Thursday, around 150 Jewish settlers, backed by at least 30 Israeli policemen, stormed East Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque complex, according to Palestinian officials."About 150 Jewish settlers - backed by at least 30 policemen - have forced their way into the mosque compound since morning," Firas al-Dibs, a spokesman for Jerusalem's Religious Endowments Authority, told Anadolu Agency, also adding that some of the settlers tried to perform Talmudic rituals before exiting the site. The Talmud is the main text of Rabbinic Judaism.The complex is known in Judaism as the Temple Mount and in Islam as the the Noble Sanctuary.In Islam, the Noble Sanctuary is the site of the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, a seventh-century shrine where the Prophet Muhammad's journey to heaven is believed to have begun. On the other hand, in Judaism, the eastern gate of the compound is believed to be where the Messiah will enter Jerusalem.On Tuesday, Israeli police shut down the Al-Aqsa Mosque after one of the Israeli police stations near the compound was set on fire. According to reports, Israeli police entered the compound and attacked many of the Muslims who were praying inside.The compound was eventually opened a day later.In April, UNESCO's executive board released and then adopted a similar resolution, calling Israel "the Occupying Power" and urging it to "stop all violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque." A total of 33 countries voted for the resolution, Sputnik previously reported.


sottnet--2019-04-09--Athens Greece opens its first mosque since 1830 but not everyone is pleased

Athens, Greece opens its first mosque since 1830 but not everyone is pleased

The Votanikos Mosque in Athens is set to open its doors to worshippers in the coming weeks, after years of backlash from the Orthodox Church and protests from locals.Deputy Foreign Minister Marcos Bolaris confirmed on Tuesday that the mosque - financed by the Greek state at a cost of almost €900,000 - will open its doors in the coming weeks. Multiple applications to build the mosque had been debated and stalled since 2000, and construction on the current building finally began in late 2016, albeit after police had cleared protesters from the site.Estimates of Athens' Muslim population range from less than 100,000 up to 500,000, when illegal immigrants and refugees are taken into account. Until now, these Muslims have been forced to pray in converted living rooms and basements dotted around the city.Opposition to the mosque has been stiff. Nikolaos Michaloliakos, leader of the far-right Golden Dawn party, savaged the proposal in parliament in 2016. Calling the mosque a "shrine to slavery," Michaloliakos asked "Are we returning to Turkish occupation?"While Golden Dawn occupy the farthest right political position in Greece,. A 2017 survey found that only a third of the country's population viewed the term 'Muslim' positively. 28 percent viewed the term 'Turks' positively, indicating that to many, Islam is a concept inseparable from the dark days of the Ottoman Empire.. Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens, the leader of the church in Greece, warned that the mosque's construction was part of a plan to "de-Hellenize and de-Christianize" the nation, and called mosques breeding grounds of radicalization."Are these people going to pray there or will mosques become schools for jihadism and fundamentalism? Who is going to monitor this?" he asked on Greek TV in 2016.With the mosque set to finally open, some Greek Muslims have complained that the finished building is too small. "Is this the mosque they've been telling us about for so many years?" Naim Elghandour, president of the Muslim Association of Greece, asked on Thema 104.6 radio last month, complaining that the building will hold only 300 men and 50 women when open.Elghandour claimed that the Votanikos Mosque, which has no minarets or loudspeakers, is barely bigger than the makeshift mosques the city's Muslims pray in already.


sottnet--2019-04-14--Israel converts confiscated historical mosque into bar and event hall

The Israeli municipality in Safed has turned Al-Ahmar Mosque into a bar and events hall, Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported yesterday.As one of the most historical mosques in the Arab city, which was occupied by the Jewish gangs in 1948 , the building was first turned into a Jewish school, then into a centre for Likud's elections campaigns and then into a clothes warehouse before finally being converted into a nightclub.The London-based newspaper reported that the mosque was turned to a bar and wedding hall by an firm affiliated to the Israeli municipality. Its name was changed from Al-Ahmar Mosque to Khan Al-Ahmar.Khair Tabari, secretary of Safed and Tiberias Islamic endowment, said that he had been waiting for the Nazareth court to take a decision regarding a complaint he filed requesting the evacuation of the mosque and returning it to the endowment.He said he attached documents to prove Islamic ownership of the mosque. He called for the different political and popular bodies to increase their cooperation with him in order to save the mosque from violations.Tabari said that the mosque is now open for use for everything except prayers by Muslims.


sottnet--2019-04-16--Hmmm Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem catches fire at the same time as Notre Dame cathedral

Hmmm... Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem catches fire at the same time as Notre Dame cathedral

As the iconic cathedral of Notre Dame burned in Paris, a fire broke out at Al Aqsa mosque in JerusalemA fire broke outin Jerusalem.The blaze didn't cause significant damage, but it did endanger a part of the worship site that's over 2,000 years old.The Palestine News Agency cited a guard as saying Monday that ", and the fire brigade of Jerusalem Islamic Waqf handled the matter successfully."The fire brigade of the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf department managed to control the blaze, while the area is currently closed to examine the cause of the fire.Al Marwani prayer room is located underneath the southeastern corner of Haram Al Sharif, which contains both the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque.The prayer room is an underground vaulted space used as a Muslim prayer hall, some 600 square yards in area, at the bottom of stairs which lead down from Al Aqsa Mosque.Shaikh Azzam Al Khatib, director general of the Jerusalem Waqf and Al Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department, told Jordan's Al Mamlaka TV thatand investigations are under way.


sputnik--2019-01-05--UK Mosque Cancels Event Honouring Muslims Who Saved Jews Amid Backlash

The exhibition at the London mosque, which was devoted to Muslims who helped save Jewish lives during the Holocaust, has been cancelled without an official explanation, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) reported. The cancellation of the event, held by the Centre for Islamic Understanding in Golders Green, was preceded by Muslim protests that were largely fuelled by statements of Roshan Salih, the editor of a Muslim media outlet called "5 Pillars".  The man slammed the organisers of the exhibition for preparing it "in conjunction with Israeli oppressors ", suggesting that the Centre shouldn't have done it in collaboration with Yad Vashem, a Jewish holocaust memorial organisation. Salih praised the mosque for "responding to community concerns" and cancelling the event.  A Jewish activist who helped the Centre for Islamic Understanding organise the exhibition, Rabbi Natan Levy, stressed the importance of remembering how "Jewish and Muslim communities have historically always supported each other". Levy hopes that by spending time together and better understanding their "commonalities and differences", Jews and Muslims will learn to stand as "united front against hatred".  The Arab-Israeli conflict broke out upon the foundation of the Jewish state in 1948, resulting in several major armed conflicts and numerous minor clashes on the Israeli border that led to thousands of deaths and left many more displaced. While certain Muslim states have abandoned the rivalry, others, like Iran, have vowed to destroy Israel, denying its right to exist.


sputnik--2019-03-15--WATCH Dozens of Jewish Settlers Storm Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem

WATCH: Dozens of Jewish Settlers Storm Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem

"About 150 Jewish settlers — backed by at least 30 policemen — have forced their way into the mosque compound since morning," Firas al-Dibs, a spokesman for Jerusalem's Religious Endowments Authority, told Anadolu Agency, also adding that some of the settlers tried to perform Talmudic rituals before exiting the site. The Talmud is the main text of Rabbinic Judaism.  The complex is known in Judaism as the Temple Mount and in Islam as the the Noble Sanctuary.  In Islam, the Noble Sanctuary is the site of the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, a seventh-century shrine where the Prophet Muhammad's journey to heaven is believed to have begun. On the other hand, in Judaism, the eastern gate of the compound is believed to be where the Messiah will enter Jerusalem.  On Tuesday, Israeli police shut down the Al-Aqsa Mosque after one of the Israeli police stations near the compound was set on fire. According to reports, Israeli police entered the compound and attacked many of the Muslims who were praying inside. Around 16 Palestinians are believed to have been injured during the clashes with Israeli police, according to multiple reports. The compound was eventually opened a day later.  In 2016, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) passed a resolution that denies any Jewish historic link to the Temple Mount and surrounding holy sites in Jerusalem.  In April, UNESCO's executive board released and then adopted a similar resolution, calling Israel "the Occupying Power" and urging it to "stop all violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque." A total of 33 countries voted for the resolution, Sputnik previously reported.


sputnik--2019-03-18--Jordanian Parlt Calls for Expelling Israeli Envoy Amid Al-Aqsa Mosque Tensions

Jordanian Parl't Calls for Expelling Israeli Envoy Amid Al-Aqsa Mosque Tensions

The proposal was voiced by Speaker Atef Tarawneh after a meeting of the Jordanian parliament’s lower house earlier in the day. The lawmakers also demanded that the government appeal to the United Nations and the Arab League for urgent measures to protect the mosque, which is considered the third holiest site in Islam, from Israel.  On Sunday, an Israeli court ordered the closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound’s Rahma Gate — a move that has already been condemned by Palestine and Jordan, a current custodian of Muslim sacred sites in Jerusalem.  Al-Aqsa mosque, which is situated close to both Christian and Jewish holy sites, has been one of the flashpoints of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The mosque is a part of the Temple Mount area which has repeatedly seen violent confrontations in recent years between Palestinian worshipers and Israeli servicemen.


sputnik--2019-03-21--Arsenal Star Suarez and WAG Selfie at Kuwait MOSQUE Provokes Massive Backlash

Arsenal star Denis Suarez has become a talking point all over Kuwaiti social media, after a picture of him and his partner visiting one of the country’s most iconic tourist attractions, the Grand Mosque, popped up online.  Many instantly took issue with the Spanish footballer taking a selfie at the Muslim holy site, expressing their discontent in comments below the snapshot sporting him, standing a step behind his bombshell girlfriend, Nadia Aviles, who posed in a beige scarf covering her head and shoulders matching the flowing upper part of her attire.  “He even doesn’t know what to do in the mosque”, one commenter said, with another one continuing along the same lines:  “U don't do that in a mosque hope u apologize to god if u believe in him if not delete this pic”.  Some speculated about Suarez entering the mosque wearing shorts, although it is not clear from the picture whether this really is the case:  “You should know something when you go to a mosque you should cover all your leg it is just for respecting the place”, one remarked.  However, it is the caption that fuelled most reaction.  “I will be always behind you!” Suarez wrote to accompany the picture.  “Fight for your place! Denis! We are Arsenal!?” one user wrote adducing a fire symbol, whereas another attempted to joke, remarking saucily:  Another chose to explain seriously how a man should behave in a Muslim sanctuary:  “It's OK to be always behind her but not in the mosque because in the mosque you will be in front of the God (Allah)”  There were, however, those who rose in the tourists’ defence, underscoring that they were just visiting.  "To those who are going hysterical over the fact the Denis Suárez toured the Grand Mosque, there's nothing in Sharia or law that doesn't allow him to!! Stop being so ignorant and stupid!" one user said, with another one trying to correct those who brought up certain rules that regulate visiting mosques:  "Anyone can go in, even non-Muslims and there's no sanctity for these spaces at all".  Meanwhile, the couple’s visit to the mosque went on to trend on Kuwaiti Twitter and has been covered on a number of local television channels.  In wake of the uproar caused by the incident, the general manager of Kuwait's Grand Mosque, Roumi Al Roumi, responded with a statement. While he didn't openly state that the couple went around some rules, he made the mosque's visitation guidelines clear, citing a certain code of conduct, which, among other things, prohibits people from wearing shorts or sleeveless tops when entering the space, al Rai newspaper reported.  "Those guidelines are available to visitors of the mosque in both Arabic and English", Al Roumi explained, adding that the mosque can in actual fact be entered upon the approval of the Ministry of Endowments, which, per the edition, has been responsible for the mosque's special visitation permits since 1994.


sputnik--2019-04-16--Blaze Erupts at Jerusalems Historic al-Aqsa Mosque as Notre Dame Burns VIDEO

Blaze Erupts at Jerusalem’s Historic al-Aqsa Mosque as Notre Dame Burns (VIDEO)

Notre Dame de Paris wasn't the only beloved house of worship that caught fire Monday. Part of the Haram ash-Sharif, the huge Jerusalem mosque built where a pivotal event in the prophet Muhammad's life is believed to have occurred, also caught fire, damaging a part of the structure dating to Judean King Herod the Great's reign.  The fire broke out in the guard room outside the al-Marwani Prayer Room Monday evening, according to a statement by the mosque's Islamic Waqf (Endowments) Department. According to The New Arab, a guard reported a short gap in guard rotations between 7:15 and 7:30 p.m. local time.  The waqf department praised the responsiveness of staff firefighters, who quickly put out the blaze. The fire seems to have been started by children fooling around, and the waqf's statement urged worshipers "who live around the mosque and in the Old City to educate their children not to tamper with fire, especially inside al-Aqsa mosque."  Israeli police told al-Araby they were opening an investigation into the incident. Israel has governed the entire city since 1967, when it seized the territory from Jordan. The United States has recently recognized Israel's claim that Jerusalem is its capital, but few nations have followed suit, with most sticking by the many United Nations resolutions condemning Israel's annexation of the territory.  Al-Aqsa means "the farthest" in Arabic; a house of worship was built in the site because of a verse in the Quran describing the prophet Muhammad's "Night Journey," which says he went to the farthest mosque before ascending to heaven atop a flying horse named Buraq ("lightning, in Arabic). It's unclear which caliph founded the modern structure, but it was almost certainly built in the late seventh century and steadily expanded ever since.  The al-Aqsa grounds also include the Dome of the Rock, an intricately decorated shrine built on the physical site from where it's believed Muhammad ascended to heaven.  Also known as "Solomon's Stables," al-Marwani was most likely built by Herod the Great, a Judean client king of the Roman Empire during the first century BC. While a Muslim caliph named Marwan I is credited with turning the stables into usable rooms, it wasn't until 1996 that the Palestinian Waqf converted the structure into a modern mosque capable of holding 7,000 worshipers.


sputnik--2019-04-17--SHOCK as Israeli Firm Reportedly Turns Mosque Into Nightclub

Many Palestinians are up in arms that a historic 13th-century mosque in Palestine's Safad district is now being used as 'a nightclub'; an Israeli company linked to the local officials created a wedding hall inside the building, according to the News.  Commenting on the transformation, Khair Tabari, secretary of the Palestinian Islamic endowment agency, said, as quoted by the Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper, that she was "shocked" and encountered "aspects of sabotage inside the mosque."  Since the creation of Israel in 1948, the Al Ahmar (Red) Mosque has been subject to several acts of "desecration", the Palestinian online outlet The News stated.


sputnik--2019-05-29--Ex-Imam of Meccas Grand Mosque Slams Gender Segregation as Phobia of Women

Ex-Imam of Mecca's Grand Mosque Slams Gender Segregation as 'Phobia of Women'

Speaking on the Saudi Broadcasting Corp. (SBC) this week, Adil al-Kalbani, former imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, suggested that gender segregation has now become a “phobia or fear of women”, Arab News reported.  The cleric, who has repeatedly gone against mainstream beliefs, including refusing to consider Shia Muslims as heretics, argued that modern interpretations of gender segregation were more conservative than those in the era of Prophet Mohammad.  Al-Kalbani claimed that in the early days of Islam, men and women used to pray in the same room, while in modern mosques women have a separate space for prayers.  “Sadly today, we are paranoid — in a mosque — a place of worship. They are completely separated from men, they cannot see them and can only hear them through microphones or speakers. And if the voice has been cut off, they wouldn’t know what is going on (during prayer). In the Prophet’s era… the men used to pray in the front and women prayed in the back of the mosque without a partition, not even a curtain”, the cleric said, as cited by Arab News.  He, however, noted positive changes in Saudi society, which has become more inclusive of women, including a royal decree lifting a ban on female drivers.  “This is a kind of phobia of women, fear of them doubt in them. Until recently, we were scared to give her a car, to let her go out. We began to constantly hear that a woman became a deputy minister, ambassador and other high ranking positions”.  Having opened up the world of entertainment to women, the kingdom has since hosted a whole row of concerts (female-only, mixed-gender), a Comic-Con pop culture festival, and a mixed-gender national day celebration, when people danced to electronic music for the very first time.  In addition, the Saudi king lifted the ban on women driving cars and allowed them to attend sport events at stadiums. Likewise, for the first time in its history, Saudi Arabia appointed a woman, Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan, as ambassador to the United States.


sputnik--2019-08-23--Live Video Opening Ceremony for Europes Largest Mosque Held in Chechnya

Live Video: Opening Ceremony for Europe's Largest Mosque Held in Chechnya

An opening ceremony for the largest mosque in Europe is being held today, with more than 200 guests from 43 countries in attendance.  The new mosque has been heralded as 'The pride of Muslims'; it is situated in the city of Shali, Chechnya and will be capable of seating up to 20,000 worshippers.  Construction of the mosque took seven years; the structure is spread across five hectares, its central dome is 40 metres tall and it features four 63-metre-tall minarets.  Follow Sputnik Feed to Find Out More!


sputnik--2019-10-18--Kabul Condemns Mosque Blasts in East Afghanistan, Blames Taliban - Presidential Spokesman

Earlier in the day, two blasts hit the mosque located in Jaw Dara area of Huska Meyna district during Friday prayers. At least 62 people were killed.  No group has taken responsibility for the blast so far.  Earlier in September, US President Donald Trump called off the peace talks with Taliban after a bomb attack by the group in Kabul killed a US servicemember. The aim of the talks was to sign the agreement at Camp David in Maryland that would see most US forces withdraw from Afghanistan in exchange for a pledge by Taliban to renounce terrorism.


sputnik--2019-12-26--Babri Mosque Panel to Move India's Top Court Over Debris of Demolished 16th Century Structure

A month after India’s top court gave away disputed land in Ayodhya to Hindus for building a Lord Ram Temple where the Babri Mosque once stood, a committee which fought for the Muslim side has now decided to approach the Supreme Court to collect the demolished mosque’s rubble.  The All-India Babri Masjid Action Committee (AIBMAC), which strove against the claim of the Ram Temple being demolished by Mughal Emperor Babur for the Babri Mosque’s construction in Ayodhya town of Uttar Pradesh state, declared its next move on Thursday.  Zafaryab Jilani, the AIBMAC convener, said that the matter would also be discussed with the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, a non-governmental Muslim organisation.  The top court in November resolved the land dispute by awarding the site to Hindus for the construction of a temple and allotting five acres of alternate land near the site to Muslims.  The AIBMAC is preparing to file a curative petition in the Supreme Court after multiple review pleas challenging the high-profile verdict were quashed by the top court, leaving the petitioners with the final option of filing a curative petition.  Jilani said that the top court stated in its judgment that the demolition of the mosque was illegal and unlawful.  Meanwhile, preparations for the construction of a grand temple in the city are on. A Ram Mandir Trust is to be finalised, as per the Supreme Court's directions.  Uttar Pradesh state chief Yogi Adityanath, who is also a well-known Hindu leader, has called on families in the state to donate Rs.11 (16 cents) and a stone towards the construction of the Lord Ram Temple in Ayodhya.


theblaze--2019-05-14--Connecticut mosque was set on fire intentionally officials say

Connecticut mosque was set on fire intentionally, officials say


theguardianuk--2019-03-23--Sixth Birmingham mosque targeted by vandals

A sixth Birmingham mosque has been targeted by vandals.  Police are examining CCTV after criminal damage was caused to the building in Cromer Road, Balsall Heath, on Saturday morning. Detectives do not believe the incident is linked to other attacks on mosques in the city earlier this week.  An investigation involving counter-terrorism officers was launched after five mosques had their windows broken with a sledgehammer in the early hours of Thursday morning.  West Midlands police said a 34-year-old man arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated criminal damage after handing himself into a city police station on Friday has been detained under the Mental Health Act.  No one else is being sought in relation to the first five incidents and detectives do not believe the suspect was part of an organised group, although the investigation is ongoing.  A 38-year-old man from Yardley, who was arrested after being detained by members of the community on Friday afternoon, has been released without charge and will face no further action.  Assistant chief constable Matt Ward of West Midlands police said: “We continue to work in partnership with mosques and local communities around the West Midlands.  “There will be a visual police presence at key locations to offer reassurance to our communities.  “It is incredibly important that we unite together against those who seek to create discord, uncertainty and fear.”


theindependent--2019-11-09--Ayodhya verdict: Site of destroyed Babri Masjid mosque must be given to Hindus for construction of R

Ayodhya verdict: Site of destroyed Babri Masjid mosque must be given to Hindus for construction of Ram temple, Supreme Court rules

India's Supreme Court has ordered that the disputed site where a mosque was torn down in 1992 should be handed over to the government for the construction of a Hindu temple.  The judges came to a unanimous verdict, after many decades of dispute and at-times deadly riots over the Ayodhya site that once housed the Babri Masjid mosque.  Five acres of land in the city must be handed over to the Sunni Waqf Board, representing Muslims in Ayodhya, for the construction of a new mosque, the judges said.  Many Hindus believe that the Ayodhya site is the birthplace of the deity Lord Ram, and say the mosque was built in the 16th century over an ancient temple marking the spot. An archaeological survey of the site found no evidence of this, only that an unspecified structure existed prior to the mosque.  But the issue reached a head in December 1992 when thousands of Hindus descended on the site, tearing down the mosque and triggering deadly communal riots across the country.  There were concerns on Friday that the Supreme Court's judgement would lead to a new backlash. The government has announced special measures in several places, including parts of Delhi and Mumbai, banning public assembly.  In their judgment, the Supreme Court justices found in favour of Ram Lalla Virajman, the child deity worshipped by Hindus at the site, and ordered the government to set up a trust within three months tasked with managing the site on the deity's behalf.  In practice, the judges accepted, this would likely mean the construction of a temple to Lord Ram. Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist BJP government has long campaigned for a Ram temple to be built at the site, making it a key pledge ahead of this year's general election.  Ranjan Gogoi, the Chief Justice of India presiding over the panel of judges, said it was not the court's job to rule on faith or politics, but that "as a secular institution [it] should uphold all faiths and religions".  He concluded that Hindus had "always believed birthplace of Lord Ram was in inner courtyard of mosque", and that the existence of a small shrine to Ram in the outer courtyard meant members of both faiths had used the site continuously.  "There is no evidence to indicate the possession was exclusive by Muslims," he said, meaning the Sunni Waqf Board had failed to establish "possessory control" of the site.  The judgment nonetheless shot down a 2010 high court decision splitting up the site, saying that it must be allocated as a whole.  And the judges cited the Archaeological Survey of India's report on Ayodhya, noting that "the Babri Masjid was not constructed on vacant land". They gave credence to the ASI's assertion that there may have been a temple at the site, despite the fact that independent archaeological experts have disputed this conclusion.  Vishnu Shankar Jain, a lawyer who represented the Hindu community, called it a "historic moment for Hindus".  He said the case had been a struggle over many years. "It was a huge legal battle and we are happy that we convinced the Supreme Court," he said.  Zafaryab Jilani, a lawyer for the Sunni Waqf Board, said the Muslim community was disappointed with the outcome and assessing its options, while respecting the authority of the court.  "We are not satisfied with the verdict and it's not up our expectation," he said. "These 5 acres of land don't mean anything to us. We are examining the verdict and whatever legal course is open for us."  That could include a review petition to the court, he suggested. At the same time, he joined in the government's calls for the public to remain calm and maintain peace.


theirishtimes--2019-05-15--Permission for Kilkenny mosque overturned by An Bord Pleanala

Permission for Kilkenny mosque overturned by An Bord Pleanála

Plans for the development of a mosque and Islamic cultural centre in Kilkenny city have been rejected by An Bord Pleanála.  The proposal by the Kilkenny Islamic Trust was granted planning permission last year by Kilkenny County Council for the proposed development at the Hebron Industrial Estate on the edge of the city.  However, a number of appeals were lodged with the board and a decision was made this week to overturn the council’s decision. One objector said the decision was “better than an All-Ireland victory”.  The proposed development included a mosque, a two-storey community building, two guest apartments, two two-storey four-bedroom semi-detached houses, classrooms, a café and a halal shop.  The plan caused controversy last year and there were angry scenes at a public meeting held to provide information to local people.  An Bord Pleanála said it decided to overturn the planning permission because of the proposed development’s location and scale. It said the development would have been “contrary” to the Hebron Road design strategy of 2017 and would “seriously injure” the amenity of adjoining properties and would be contrary to the proper planning and development of the area.  About 40 objections were lodged with the council following the original application, with one objector collecting more than 1,000 signatures from people opposing the proposal. The nearby O’Loughlin Gaels GAA Club made a submission raising concerns about the impact on traffic locally, saying that the area is already subject to congestion at certain times.  One objectors, Eugene McGuinness, a brother of Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness who is standing in this month’s local elections as an independent candidate, said he was “absolutely delighted” with the decision.  “I have put in 14 months on this,” he said. “ It’s been a difficult 14 months because as soon as you object to a development with a religious aspect to it you’re branded a racist or a xenophobe. That surprised me.”  He said his problem with the proposal was not on religious or anti-Islamic grounds, but because of the existing traffic problems near Hebron Road.  “We have an Islamic community in Kilkenny and, as such, they are entitled to their place of worship,” he said.  He said the council made a mistake in granting permission after being pushed into supporting the proposal “not by the Islamic community, but by keyboard warriors”.  The online Kilkenny Journal, whose editor Michael McGrath is standing in the local elections as an independent, described the decision on its Facebook page as “better than an All-Ireland victory”.  “The mosque planned was too big for the area, it was obviously a mosque being built for the entire southeast and even further afield,” he said. “(People should) get out and celebrate - it’s a great day for Kilkenny. A powerful day for freedom in our history.”  Kilkenny Imam Ibrahim Ndure said there was “misinformation peddled” about the proposed centre. “We haven’t been given the reasons and rational for the rejection and until then it is impossible to comment any further.”


themanchestereveningnews--2019-01-29--Didsbury Mosque given all-clear by counter-terror police over controversial jihad speech

Didsbury Mosque given all-clear by counter-terror police over controversial 'jihad' speech

Counter terror police who investigated the contents of a sermon delivered by an Imam at Didsbury mosque say ‘no offences have been committed’.  A BBC investigation revealed that imam Mustafa Graf, from Chorlton, referenced ‘jihad’ and ‘mujahideen’ during a speech delivered at the mosque, on Burton Road, in West Didsbury.  However bosses at the mosque said the comments, which were recorded onto a tape, were taken out of context.  The broadcaster aired parts of an audio recording which sparked an investigation by Greater Manchester Police’s Counter Terrorism detectives in August last year.  Senior investigating officers now say they have determined that ‘no offences have been committed’ following consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service and after receiving expert advice.  Though people may have been concerned at the ‘tone’ of the speech, mosque trustees are committed to dealing with ‘extreme’ behaviours, they said.  In a joint statement, Manchester City Council and Counter Terrorism Policing North West said: “We recognise that mosques have a very important and valuable role to play within our communities and we will always seek to work with trustees to strengthen those community relationships.  “Although at all times freedom of expression must be respected we understand that people may be concerned by the content of the BBC report, in particular the tone of the speech.  “We have engaged with the Mosque Trustees for several months and they have committed themselves to monitoring and dealing with behaviours which could be considered extreme while maintaining their right to freedom of expression.  “We will continue to work with these trustees.”  According to BBC News, Mr Graf delivered the sermon during Friday prayers at Didsbury Mosque on December 16, 2016 - six months before the Manchester Arena bombing.  They reported that the Muslim cleric said: “We ask Allah to grant them mujahideen - our brothers and sisters right now in Aleppo and Syria and Iraq - to grant them victory.”  The broadcasters also claim he said: “Jihad for the sake of Allah is the source of pride and dignity for this nation.”  Speaking to the M.E.N last summer, the mosque’s trustees said Mr Graf was highlighting the plight of Syrians after chemical bombings in the country. They said his use of the words ‘jihad’ and ‘mujahideen’ had been misinterpreted.  A mosque spokesman said at the time: “Jihad is an Arabic word meaning to struggle or strive for good, and it is often used incorrectly.  “This sermon was after the chemical bombings in Syria. There was a big charity campaign in the UK to try to raise funds for the victims.  “The Imam was saying that everyone should put their money where their mouths were and give to charity. When speaking in Arabic he used the work jihad, meaning to struggle and strive, or to give.  “The English translation said something like ‘you must all give to charity’. But instead of translating the full sermon they [the BBC] have translated all the Arabic words around jihad, but left that as it is. That’s what’s really frustrating, and it doesn’t make sense.  “We do not tolerate or instigate any form of preaching that breaches both Islamic principles and the laws of England and Wales.”  The BBC previously rejected claims that they had mistranslated the sermon, which they say was spoken in English.  The family of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi worshipped at the mosque, which is also known as the Manchester Islamic Centre.  Abedi killed 22 people and injured hundreds more when he detonated a deadly device at the Arena during an Ariana Grande on May 22, 2017.  The BBC said it was not known if Abedi or members of his family were at the mosque when Mr Graf delivered the speech.  But the corporation claimed that Abedi bought a ticket to the Ariana Grande concert just 10 days later.  The mosque previously told the M.E.N. that the suicide bomber last visited the mosque during Eid ‘seven or eight years ago’ - and said records showed he wasn’t present when Mr Graf delivered the sermon.  They said Mr Graf no longer gives sermons and, at the time of the recording, two preachers were delivering sermons on a rotation basis.  The M.E.N has contacted the BBC for comment.


themanchestereveningnews--2019-09-05--Designs for new Cheadle mosque plans have been revealed

Fresh designs for a new mosque have been revealed after architects discovered ‘fundamental issues’ with the original proposals.  Plans to knock down Cheadle Mosque and Community Centre and replace it with a new building ‘with a sense of place and purpose for the community’ were given the green light in 2017.  Manchester-based Four Architects were tasked with delivering the plans by Cheadle Mosque Association  – but found problems with the ‘design and function’ of the proposed place of worship.  The firm has now developed a new set of proposals for the site in Wilmslow Road, Heald Green , based upon the ‘design ethos and philosophy that the trust had at the outset’.  A technical review highlighted areas which could be ‘redesigned to enable a better use of space’ while also reducing costs.  These included not having structural columns in the main halls  and ensuring access to classrooms was not only via the main prayer hall – described as ‘the most important element’ of the scheme.  In a design and access statement submitted with the application, the company says its guiding principle was to ‘create a space in which the community felt comfortable and inspired’.  This involved creating a ‘hierarchy of spaces’ in which the main prayer hall was the most important element.  The document adds: “Having successfully designed and built a new mosque previously we felt that we would be able to draw on our experience to provide a building that functioned efficiently, provided a cost effective solution but also looked very desirable.”  It continues:  “It needed to look first and foremost like a mosque. The design intention was to provide a contemporary form with traditional elements which would fit with the context and locality of the site.”  Among the problems the firm identified in the plans passed in 2017 were that access to classrooms was only via the main prayer hall, both staircases were ‘much too wide’ the curved wall  would prove difficult to build.  The latest proposals would see the complex almost double in size from 627 square metres to 1,210, including the loss of the caretaker’s house and modular buildings.  Describing the benefits of the new design the statement concludes: “What we have been able to do in the redesign of the building is produce an extremely efficient layout which has minimised the use of circulation space and dead spaces.  “This has enabled us to give the correct amount of space and proportions to each room in the building while not increasing the footprint or the volume of the building.”  The plans also include 109 parking spaces and 11 cycle spaces.  An earlier plan to redevelop the mosque which would have seen it triple in size were dropped in 2014 following a backlash which generated more than 1,600 objections.


themanchestereveningnews--2019-09-11--Teenager who brandished machete at mosque during funeral after snitches get stitches threat is spa

Teenager who brandished machete at mosque during funeral after 'snitches get stitches' threat is spared jail

An assault victim who brandished a machete in a room full of people attending a funeral at a mosque has been spared jail because of 'very exceptional circumstances'.  Mustafa Zaidi, 18, waved the blade in the air in a prayer room at Dar-uluoom Mosque in Longsight last month, after three men came into the room and started attacking his friend.  He was sentenced at Manchester Crown Court on Tuesday, after previously admitting one count of possession of a bladed article.  The offence usually carries an immediate jail term, but judge Judge Elizabeth Nicholls chose to suspend the sentence after hearing that Zaidi was 'living in fear' after a photograph of a witness statement he made to police when he was violently assaulted the week before had been circulated online with the caption 'snitches get stitches.'  The court heard he had also had been subjected to a campaign of harassment while on remand since the August 7 offence, which included having his food laced with excrement, after he was placed in the same prison as his alleged attackers.  The court was shown CCTV of the incident, which happened in a room full of children and adults waiting to attend a funeral service.  Three men came into the room and assaulted Zaidi's friend, punching him in the head and kicking him while he was on the ground.  Other mourners stepped in stop the assault, giving Zaidi and his friend the chance to escape.  But as he was leaving the room, Zaidi removed the blade from his waistband and waved it around, before running down the stairs and out onto Stamford Road.  He handed himself in the following day.  Defending, Mr Ahmed Nadim told the court that while the offence was 'unforgivable' it must be understood in the context of the events that led up to it.  A week before the offence, Zaidi was attacked by a group of men on Wilmslow Road, which left him with several wounds and led to police arresting three men.  The court heard that a photograph was somehow obtained of a statement Zaidi gave police about his attack, which was then widely shared on social media with the caption 'snitches get stitches.'  Mr Nadim  said that Zaidi was concerned about what might happen to him on the way to the funeral, so he took a machete, which his father kept for gardening, from his family home and brought it with him to the mosque.  He went on to explain that Zaidi, who has been in custody for the past month, had been sent to the same prison as his alleged attackers.  During his time on remand at the prison, which was not named in court, he had been subjected to a series of threats of violence and had excrement thrown at him and put in his food.  Mr Nadim said this continued even after Zaidi was put in isolation for his own safety.  He told the court Zaidi acted in a 'panic' when he pulled out the knife and has since had to endure 'intolerable behaviour' from other criminals.  He said: "He was wrong to produce the machete, but it was not used to threaten anyone, it was to show the assembled that he had the machete and they should not come near him.  "The production was for no more than two or three seconds".  Sentencing, Judge Nicholls stressed that in any other circumstances, Zaidi would have gone to jail for having the weapon, and that his case should in no way be viewed as a precedent.  She said: "You took with you a machete, a vicious weapon that can cause significant harm to others, you expected some form of trouble.  "You of all people should understand the dangers of taking a weapon on the streets, having been the victim of a knife crime just a few weeks before.  "Sometimes you must look at others, look at that CCTV, there were young children there, elderly people there, people remembering the man whose funeral you attended, and you disrupted that.  "You escalated an incident that was almost resolved by the time you pulled that knife."  Zaidi, of Burnage, was sentenced to 13 months in prison, suspended for two years, made the subject of a curfew and must carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.  Get breaking news first on the free Manchester Evening News app - download it here for your Apple or Android device. You can also get a round-up of the biggest stories sent direct to your inbox every day with the MEN email newsletter - subscribe here. And you can follow us on Facebook here.


thetelegraph--2019-03-11--Khizra mosque - a correction

Khizra mosque - a correction

An article of 23 Jan reported that the 466th Manchester Scouts based at Khizra mosque was being investigated by the Scouts Association and implied that the Mosque had been referred to the police because of reports of segregating children by gender. We are happy to clarify that the 466th Manchester Scouts is a mixed group and neither it nor Khizra Mosque are under investigation by the police.  We apologise for this error.


thetelegraph--2019-04-08--Extremist admits planning to blow up London mosque in suspected revenge for Manchester bombing

An anti-Islamic terrorist has admitted planning to blow up a mosque with a home-made bomb to avenge the killing of an eight-year-old girl in the Manchester Arena bombing.  Steven Bishop, 41, tampered with fireworks and bought a detonator on the dark web.  He was arrested by counter-terror police at his mother's home in Morden, south London, last October after admitting that he planned to attack the local mosque.  Bishop, from Thornton Heath, south London, initially denied one count of possession of an explosive substance with intent to endanger life or cause damage to property contrary to the Explosives Substance Act 1883 but changed his plea to guilty on the first day of his trial at Kingston Crown Court.  Simon Drew, prosecuting, told an earlier hearing that Bishop was a “dangerous and unpredictable man who has a violent past.”  He was said to have had an “obsession” with the Manchester terrorist attack in 2017 and the death of eight-year-old Saffie Rose Roussos, the youngest of the 22 killed in the bombing.


thetorontostar--2019-05-14--Lawmakers announce plan for more security after mosque fire

Federal, state and local authorities are investigating Sunday afternoon’s blaze that damaged two floors of New Haven’s Diyanet Mosque as arson.  HARTFORD, Conn. - Authorities have found evidence that an incendiary device or material was used to start a weekend fire at a Connecticut mosque, New Haven’s mayor said Tuesday.  Mayor Toni Harp said in a statement Tuesday that if it’s proven the fire was intentionally set, the city will use all its resources to find those responsible. She did not detail what the incendiary device was.  Several online fundraisers have been started to help with mosque repairs.  Authorities have offered a $2,500 reward for information leading to an arrest.  The Muslim Coalition of Connecticut’s page had more than $66,000 in pledges Tuesday afternoon.  A bi-partisan group of Connecticut lawmakers also announced plans to free up $5 million in state bonding to increase security at houses of worship across the state.  State Sen. Saud Anwar, a Democrat from South Windsor and one of the main sponsors of the legislation, said the money will help create a sense of resiliency and protection at churches, synagogues and mosques.  “We don’t yet have all the facts and details regarding the arson attack in New Haven, but no one should feel unsafe or unwelcome in their place of worship,” he said.  The legislation would establish a competitive grant program similar to one that already makes money available to schools to install such things as remote door entry systems, video monitoring and shatter-proof windows.


thetorontostar--2019-06-20--Court document Mosque bombing suspect tried to escape

Court document: Mosque bombing suspect tried to escape

MINNEAPOLIS - An Illinois man who faces trial in the 2017 bombing of a Minnesota mosque had tried to escape from custody earlier this year.  A court document filed by prosecutors says 48-year-old Michael Hari tried to flee when he was being transported to a Minnesota jail. The report gives no details about the escape attempt.  Prosecutors say Hari was later moved to another Minnesota jail, and was placed in administrative segregation after trying to disable a security device in his cell.  Hari is the leader of a white militia group in Clarence, Illinois, and alleged ringleader behind the attack at Dar al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington, Minnesota. No one was injured in the bombing, which one co-defendant says was meant to scare Muslims into leaving the U.S.  Hari has pleaded not guilty. His two co-defendants have pleaded guilty .


thetorontostar--2019-12-18--Prayer at Kashmir’s biggest mosque for 1st time in 4 months

SRINAGAR, India - A call to afternoon prayer rang out from the central mosque in disputed Kashmir’s largest city for the first time in more than four months on Wednesday, ending a virtual ban on religious practice in the Muslim-majority region’s biggest mosque.  The Jamia Masjid in Srinagar was shut Aug. 5 as part of India’s security lockdown after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government stripped Kashmir of its semi-autonomous status.  About 100 worshipers gathered in the mosque to offer noon prayers.  “We were waiting for conditions to improve and the mosque gates to be opened by the police,” said Mufti Ghulam Rasool, who leads daily prayers at the mosque.  The centuries-old Jamia Masjid, made of brick and wood, is one of the oldest mosques in this city of 1.2 million, 96% of whom are Muslim, and often draws thousands to prayer.  That it was a target for authorities is neither surprising nor new. Friday sermons at the mosque mainly revolve around the decades-old Kashmir conflict, in which rebels have demanded an independent Kashmir or a merger with Pakistan, which administers half of the territory. In surrounding neighbourhoods, stone-throwing protesters often clash with government forces as part of an ongoing anti-India rebellion.  “Jamia Masjid is symbol of our faith,“ said Bashir Ahmed, a local trader. “The assault on us is not just physical, they’re also desecrating our sacred symbols of our faith.”  “My heart was burning all these months,” Ateeqa, an elderly woman who uses only one name, said as she hugged one of the 378 wooden pillars in the mosque.  The portion of divided Kashmir that India controls was already one of the most militarized places in the world before the government began pouring in more troops last summer. It imposed a security lockdown, blocking internet and phone services, shuttering important mosques, restricting assembly and arresting thousands of people.  While some of the conditions have been eased, some mosques and Muslim shrines either remain shuttered or have had their access limited.  Kashmiri Muslims have long complained that the government curbs their religious freedom on the pretext of law and order while promoting Hinduism.  Authorities have banned prayers at the mosque for extended periods during unrest in 2008, 2010 and 2016. Official data show the mosque was closed at least 250 days in those three years combined.  Freedom of religion is enshrined in India’s constitution, allowing citizens to follow and freely practice religion. The constitution also says the state will not “discriminate, patronize or meddle in the profession of any religion.”  The Organization of Islamic Cooperation raised concerns about India’s lockdown in Kashmir in August and called for authorities to ensure that Kashmiri Muslims could exercise their religious rights.  Authorities have gradually eased restrictions on gatherings at mosques, shrines and religious festivals in Kashmir.


windowoneurasiablog--2019-04-21--Almost a Quarter of Norilsk Residents are Muslims Imam of Russias Northernmost Mosque Says

Almost a Quarter of Norilsk Residents are Muslims, Imam of Russia’s Northernmost Mosque Says

Staunton, April 21 – “The Muslim diaspora of Norilsk” now forms almost 25 percent of that city’s population, its life centered around the bright green minaret of the Nurd Kamal mosque that stands out even during the long polar night, according to its imam, Radik Bakiyev, an ethnic Bashkir, who has led the Muslim community there for a decade.  Born in a Bashkortostan village in 1978, Bakiyev worked in the oil and gas industry both in his home republic and in Norilsk before acquiring Islamic training in Moscow and becoming imam in Norilsk in 2009, a city which, he says, you have to love in order to remain there because of the severe climate and distances to other parts of Russia.  Despite its difficulties, Bekiyev continues, “Norilsk attracts people. We live here as one family; there are no divisions. We [Muslims] all interact with one another and with our brothers, the Orthodox, too.”  The imam admits that there have been some extremist groups which have emerged from the Muslims there, the result, he says, of ignorance and pride, the failure of Muslim leaders to provide an understanding of the nature of Islam and of Russian officials especially in the 1990s to pay attention to what was going on and take adequate measures.  As to Muslim extremists, he says, “in contemporary language, one can call them sectarians. Whatever religious denomination you look at has them. Our Orthodox brethren also have sectarians,” products of the same things: “ignorance, pride, and what is most important, failure to life according to the laws of the Most High Creator.”  Bekieyv says his mosque offers a special class for young people that sends a message to them that they must accept Islam as a whole rather than take selected passages and act on those alone without recognition of the ways in which the ideas expressed in one passage are affected by other passages of the Koran.  Bekiyev is clearly someone who regrets the demise of the USSR. He misquotes Vladimir Putin’s observation about that and says that the Kremlin leader believes that “our biggest mistake was the destruction of the Soviet Union.” As his interviewer points out, Putin in fact said “whoever doesn’t regret the disintegration of the USSR has no heart, but whoever wants to restore it in its former shape has no brain.”  Bekiyev concedes that the restoration of the Soviet Union is impossible, but adds, “look around, in Norilsk is represented the entire Soviet Union. We live together in a friendly way: Tajiks, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Azerbaijanis. Tomorrow at five in the morning, our little mosque will be full of people; there won’t be any empty places.”  The city has only one mosque and one prayer room. It would be good to have another, but that requires funds and it is hard for people now to come up with them, the imam continues. The current mosque began to be built in 1992 as a result of contributions from a local entrepreneur, Mitkhad Bikmeyev.  Imam Bekiyev says his city’s Muslim community is in many ways unique: “there is nothing similar to Norilsk” on “’the continent’” of Russia. Because of the hardships of life, Muslims and Orthodox Christians cooperate closely. And as a result, people feel free to move among confessions.  “Among us,” he says, “there are Russian boys” and even some Russian girls. We don’t ask them why they are coming to Islam – each has his or her reasons – we simply try to explain what Islam is among and how it is similar and different from Orthodoxy, he continues with obvious pride.  This religious fluidity can lead to mixed marriages: his own daughter in law is a Russian, Bekiyev says. But that isn’t a problem: “Russian girls come to us consciously. Let them live, let us Russians become more numerous. Because you know the birthrate with us is a serious issue.” And this can help.  Some shout that “’Islam is attacking! Soon there won’t be any Russians!’” but in fact, “everyone will be, everyone will remain. These are empty words. And may God grant that between us the devil will not come to divide us. But our roots are one, Russia. It is great, so that we can peacefully coexist with other nations, a model for emulation in the entire world.”


wnd--2019-11-19--Court rules mosque must go, ancient temple restored

It's a stunning court decision: An Islamic mosque must be removed from land that is considered sacred and it will be replaced with an ancient temple that reportedly once stood there.  This decision, however, is not about Jerusalem's Temple Mount and the admittedly unsolvable dispute between those who support the al-Aqsa Mosque there and those who believe it is the site of the former Jewish temples of history, and of the future Jewish temple of prophecy.  This one is about a situation in India, although reports confirm "some see this as a precedent paving the way for the return of a Jewish Temple."  It is Breaking Israel News that is reporting on the situation.  The report cites the decision from the Supreme Court of India, all 1,182 pages, that "ruled an ancient temple must be rebuilt and a mosque that was built in its place must be relocated elsewhere."  The decision came in a decades-long legal fight over the small parcel of land in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh.  The five judges agreed "to allow the rebuilding of the Hindu temple and the relocation of the Muslim mosque claimed to have been built on its ruins in 1528. According to the court's decision, all disputed territory would pass to the Hindu 'temple groups' as they are known in India."  The fight actually started back in the 1980s when Hindu groups claimed the right to rebuild their temple, originally built in the 10th century, on the site of an Islamic mosque that had been erected somewhere in the 16th century.  The first court decision was to divide the 2.8 acres of land into three parcels.  But given the fact a survey "determined that the remains of a 10th-century temple existed under the mosque," the high court said it should be handed over to Hindus.  The Muslims were provided an alternate site for their mosque, the report said.  Islamic officials refused to accept the result and "threatened a violent reaction," the report said.  "Justice was not done fully as Muslims cannot shift the mosque, therefore, accepting an alternative land for the mosque is absolutely out of the question," the Sunni Waqf board said in a statement. "While the legal option is available, there is also Shariah obligation to defend the masjid till the last breath."  Mordechai Kedar, of Bar-Ilan University, explained why such an issue is so important to Muslims.  "Islam is, at its core, replacement theology," Kedar told BIN. "Not only do they see themselves as the proper replacement for all previous beliefs, but they also believe that everything in those beliefs belongs to Islam. All of the figures in the Bible are Muslims. Muslims claim that Jesus and all of the figures in the New Testament are Muslim."  He said one of the practices of Islam is to "take over" the holy sites for other faiths.  Reported BIN, "Assaf Fried, the spokesman for the Temple Organizations, noted the unmistakable similarities between the case in India and the situation on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem."  He explained, "This is a powerful precedent. The situation is precisely like the one in Jerusalem. Though it cannot be used in Israeli jurisprudence, conceptually, it is compelling."  BIN reported, "Yaakov Hayman, chairman of the United Temple Movements, agreed that the case in India was identical to the situation at the Temple Mount but he did not feel the same tactic would work in Israel."