....."
Jemima Goldsmith - Haiqa Khan
"It would seem that a Western woman's happiness hinges largely upon her access to nightclubs, alcohol and revealing clothes; and the absence of such apparent freedom and luxuries in Islamic societies is seen as an infringement of her basic rights. However, as we all know, such superficialities have very little to do with true happiness....

by Martin Kramer
A Jewish convert to Islam tried to reform it.

The Road from Mecca:
Muhammad Asad
(born Leopold Weiss)

From The Jewish Discovery of Islam

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In August 1954, there appeared in America a remarkable book, written by an author named Muhammad Asad and bearing the title The Road to Mecca. The book, a combination of memoir and travelogue, told the story of a convert to Islam who had crossed the spiritual deserts of Europe and the sand deserts of Arabia, on a trek that brought him ultimately to the oasis of Islamic belief. The book immediately won critical acclaim, most notably in the prestige press of New York, where Simon and Schuster had published it. One reviewer, writing in The New York Herald Tribune Book Review, called it an "intensely interesting and moving book."1 Another reviewer, on the pages of The New York Times, placed the book in the pantheon of Arabian travel literature: "Not since Freya Stark," he wrote, "has anyone written so happily about Arabia as the Galician now known as Muhammad Asad."2

Muhammad Asad (1900-92) was a converted Jew, named Leopold Weiss at birth. He was no ordinary convert. Asad not only sought personal fulfillment in his adopted faith. He tried to affect the course of contemporary Islam, as an author, activist, diplomat, and translator of the Qur'an. Muhammad Asad died in February 1992 at the age of ninety-one, so that his career may be said to have paralleled the emergence of every trend in contemporary Islam.

Italy’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia accepted Islam. Torquato Cardilli revealed his decision on November 25, 2001, his 59th birthday.

Cardilli is a graduate in oriental culture and languages from the University of Naples. He also served as ambassador to Albania and Tanzania. He is married with two children and speaks Arabic fluently.

His conversion follows many years of study in Islam. Finally, he officially converted to Islam in Saudi Arabia on November 16, 2001, on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan. In a press statement, he expressed his happiness and said that he was fully convinced of the truthfulness of Islam through his regular readings of the Holy Qur’an.

This is the second time that an Italian ambassador to Saudi Arabia converted to Islam. Seven year ago, Mario Scialoja shocked everyone when he converted to Islam. He was at that time Rome’s permanent representative to the United Nations in New York. He was later posted to Saudi Arabia as Italy’s ambassador in 1994-95.

some 3,000 to 5,000 Italians have recently converted to Islam from Catholicism.

Italian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Converts to Islam

RIYADH, November 25, 2001
The Italian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Torquato Cardeilli, has converted to Islam, the Italian embassy here announced Sunday, news agencies reported.

Following a close reading of the Holy Qur'an and study of Islamic culture, Cardeilli embraced Islam to become the first ambassador to convert to Islam in Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina, according to an office which handles conversions to Islam.

Sheikh Nouh bin Nasser's office said the Italian ambassador converted to Islam on Nov. 15, the day before the start of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.

"He came to the office and read the two testimonies [necessary to declare faith: 'I proclaim that there is no God but Allah, and I proclaim that Mohammad is His Prophet and Messenger'] and then prayed with us," Nasser told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

During his 34-year diplomatic career, Arabic-speaking Cardeilli, a graduate in linguistics and Oriental civilization, has been posted to several Arab countries and took up his current post in Riyadh in November 2000.

Cardeilli, 59, a father of two, was not available for comment as he left Riyadh for Rome on Saturday.

Saudi Arabia has in the past few years witnessed the conversion of more than 50,000 foreigners to Islam, the Saudi daily newspaper Oqaz reported.

According to Nouh, an average of three to four people convert to Islam at his office every day, and the number rises to five during Ramadan. Twenty similar offices operate in Riyadh and many more in other cities.

The thing is that modern democratic societies can't integrate people from a midEVIL culture who from birth have been brainwashed with hatred.
I think this piece by By Nonie Darwish very clearly explain what we are dealing with:
http://terror-watch.net/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=5187#5187

Dr. Hofmann, who accepted Islam in 1980, was born as a Catholic in Germany in 1931. He graduated from Union College in New York and completed his legal studies at Munich University where he received a doctorate in jurisprudence in 1957. He became a research assistant for the reform of federal civil procedure, and in 1960 received an LL.M. degree from Harvard Law School. He was Director of Information for NATO in Brussels from 1983 to 1987. He was posted as German ambassador to Algeria in 1987 and then to Morocco in 1990 where he served for four years. He performed umrah (Lesser Pilgrimage) in 1982 and Hajj (Pilgrimage) in 1992.

to whom sais taht priests are punished.
no there not .they are set free without punishment while raped nuns are tranfered to another place.

Among the abuses detailed is the case of a nun being forced to have an abortion by the priest who impregnated her. She later died and he officiated at her requiem mass.

Also cited is the case of a mother superior who repeatedly complained to her local bishop that priests in the diocese had made 29 of her nuns pregnant

The bishop, according to the report, subsequently relieved her of her duties.

'Why the USA is hated' by Robert Bowman, bishop of the United Catholic Church in Melbourne Beach, FL.

(Robert Bowman flew 101 combat missions in Vietnam. He is presently bishop of the United Catholic Church in Melbourne Beach, FL. Originally printed in The National Catholic Reporter, Oct. 2, 1998.)
'The truth is that none of our thousands of nuclear weapons can protect us from these threats. No Star Wars system no matter how technically advanced, no matter how many trillions of dollars are poured into it, can protect us from a nuclear weapon delivered in a sailboat or a Cessna or a suitcase or a Ryder rental truck. Not one weapon in our vast arsenal, not a penny of the $270 billion a year we spend on so-called defence can defend against a terrorist bomb. That is a military fact.'

'As a retired lieutenant colonel and a frequent lecturer on national security issues, I have often quoted Psalm 33: "A king is not saved by his mighty army. A warrior is not saved by his great strength." The obvious reaction is, "Then what can we do?" Is there nothing we can do to provide security for our people?'

'There is. But to understand it requires that we know the truth about the threat. President Clinton did not tell the American people the truth about why we are the targets of terrorism when he explained why we bombed Afghanistan and Sudan. He said that we are a target because we stand for democracy, freedom, and human rights in the world. Nonsense!'

'We are the target of terrorists because, in much of the world, our government stands for dictatorship, bondage, and human exploitation. We are the target of terrorists because we are hated. And we are hated because our government has done hateful things.'

'In how many countries have agents of our government deposed popularly elected leaders and replaced them with puppet military dictators who were willing to sell out their own people to American multinational corporations?'

'We did it in Iran when the US Marines and the CIA deposed Mossadegh because he wanted to nationalize the oil industry. We replaced him with the Shah and armed, trained, and paid his hated Savak National Guard, which enslaved and brutalized the people of Iran, all to protect the financial interests of our oil companies. Is it any wonder that there are people in Iran who hate us?'

'We did it in Chile. We did it in Vietnam. More recently, we tried to do it in Iraq. And, of course, how many times have we done it in Nicaragua and all the other banana republics of Latin America? Time after time we have ousted popular leaders who wanted the riches of the land to be shared by the people who worked it. We replaced them with murderous tyrants who would sell out their own people so the wealth of the land could be taken out by the likes of Domino Sugar, Folgers, and Chiquita Banana.'

'In country after country, our government has thwarted democracy, stifled freedom, and trampled human rights. That's why it is hated around the world. And that's why we're the target of terrorists.'

'People in Canada enjoy democracy, freedom, and human rights. So do the people of Norway and Sweden. Have you heard of Canadian embassies being bombed? Or Norwegian, or Swedish?'

'We are not hated because we practice democracy, value freedom, or uphold human rights. We are hated because our government denies these things to people in Third World countries whose resources are coveted by our multinational corporations. That hatred we have sown has come back to haunt us in the form of terrorism and in the future, nuclear terrorism.'

'Once the truth about why the threat exists is understood, the solution becomes obvious. We must change our ways. Getting rid of our nuclear weapons unilaterally if necessary will enhance our security. Drastically altering our foreign policy will ensure it. '

'Instead of sending our sons and daughters around the world to kill Arabs so we can have the oil under their sand, we should send them to rebuild their infrastructure, supply clean water, and feed starving children. Instead of continuing to kill hundreds of Iraqui children every day with our sanctions, we should help Iraquis rebuild their electric power plants, their water treatment facilities, their hospitals, and all the things we have destroyed and prevented them from rebuilding. '

'Instead of training terrorists and death squads, we should close the School of the Americas [Ft. Benning, GA.]. Instead of supporting insurrection, destabilization, assassination, and terror around the world, we should abolish the CIA and give money to relief agencies. '

'In short, we should do good instead of evil. Who would try to stop us? Who would hate us? Who would want to bomb us? That is the truth the American people need to hear.'

Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 07:48:35 +0000 (GMT)
> Subject: [mnn-list] Sunday Telegraph
>
>
> > By Andrew Alderson, Chief Reporter
> (Filed: 29/10/2005)
>
> The Prince of Wales will try to persuade George W
> Bush
> and Americans of the merits of Islam this week
> because
> he thinks the United States has been too intolerant
> of
> the religion since September 11.
>
> The Prince, who leaves on Tuesday for an eight-day
> tour of the US, has voiced private concerns over
> America's "confrontational" approach to Muslim
> countries and its failure to appreciate Islam's
> strengths.
>
>
> The Duchess of Cornwall will accompany her husband
>
> The Prince raised his concerns when he met senior
> Muslims in London in November 2001. The gathering
> took
> place just two months after the attacks on New York
> and Washington. "I find the language and rhetoric
> coming from America too confrontational," the Prince
> said, according to one leader at the meeting.
>
> It is understood that Prince Charles did not - and
> does not - believe that the actions of 19 hijackers
> should tarnish the reputation of hundreds of
> millions
> of law-abiding Muslims around the world.
>

London mayor says PM is a "war criminal" whose place is in prison
March 4, 2005

London mayor Ken Livingstone denounced Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as a war criminal, accused Israel of carrying out ethnic cleansing, and rejected accusations of anti-Semitism .
Sharon "is a war criminal who should be in prison, not in office," he wrote in the The Guardian, noting that even an Israeli commission had faulted the prime minister for a measure of responsibility in the massacre of Palestinian Arabs in refugee camps in Lebanon by Lebanese Christians in 1982.

The mayor also denounced Israeli settlements in the territories and the Israeli denial of Palestinians' "right to return."

"Sharon continues to organize terror," Livingstone said. "More than three times as many Palestinians as Israelis have been killed in the present conflict."

"Israel's own expansion has included ethnic cleansing," he added. "Ethnic cleansing, discrimination and terror are immoral."

Israel Honors Jewish Terrorists
Who Attacked US
4-2-5

In 1954, Israeli agents working in Egypt planted bombs in several buildings, including a United States diplomatic facility, and left evidence behind implicating Arabs as the culprits. The ruse would have worked, had not one of the bombs detonated prematurely, allowing the Egyptians to capture and identify one of the bombers, which in turn led to the round up of an Israeli spy ring.
Some of the spies were from Israel, while others were recruited from the local Jewish population. Israel responded to the scandal with claims in the media that there was no spy ring, that it was all a hoax perpetrated by "anti-Semites". But as the public trial progressed, it was evident that Israel had indeed been behind the bombing. Eventually, Israeli's Defense Minister Pinhas Lavon was brought down by the scandal, although it appears that he was himself the victim of a frame-up by the real authors of the bombing project, code named "Operation Susannah."
It is therefore a fact that Israel has a prior history of setting off bombs with the intent to blame Arabs for them. - Reporters Notebook
Reuters
3-30-5
After half a century of reticence and recrimination, Israel on Wednesday honored nine Egyptian Jews recruited as agents-provocateur in what became one of the worst intelligence bungles in the country's history.
Israel was at war with Egypt when it hatched a plan in 1954 to ruin its rapprochement with the United States and Britain by firebombing sites frequented by foreigners in Cairo and Alexandria.
But Israel hoped the attacks, which caused no casualties, would be blamed on local insurgents collapsed when the young Zionist bombers were caught and confessed at public trials. Two were hanged. The rest served jail terms and emigrated to Israel.
Embarrassed before the West, the fledgling Jewish state long denied involvement. It kept mum even after its 1979 peace deal with Egypt, fearing memories of the debacle could sour ties.
"Although it is still a sensitive situation, we decided now to express our respect for these heroes," President Moshe Katzav said after presenting the three surviving members of the bomber ring with certificates of appreciation at a Jerusalem ceremony.
What went wrong in the "Lavon Affair" -- named after Pinhas Lavon, Israel's defense minister when the plot came to light -- remains a matter of debate in a country more used to tales of espionage coups. The Egyptian Jews were recruited by a fringe unit of Military Intelligence rather than the premier Israeli spy agency Mossad.
The situation recurred in 1985, when U.S. Navy analyst Jonathan Pollard was sentenced to life imprisonment in the United States for passing military secrets to Israel's scientific liaison office.
"As with Pollard, this (Lavon Affair) was a rogue operation," said David Kimche, a former Mossad deputy chief. "We knew never to go down that road again." There is a twist to the Egyptian case -- the now widespread belief that the bombers were betrayed to the authorities by their Israeli handler, who turned double-agent.
"The general feeling is that he was the one who caused it all," Kimche said. Under a veil of secrecy, the handler was tried for contacts with Egyptian intelligence and jailed for 10 years.
Meanwhile, the agents locked up in Egypt were ignored, excluded from several prisoner exchanges with Israel after the wars of 1956 and 1967. Now that they have been officially recognised in Israel, the former agents are campaigning for a full account of their operation to be included in the high-school syllabus.
"This is a great day for all of us, those who were hanged and those who died," said Marcelle Ninio, the only female member of the cell. "We are happy we've got our honour back."
=============
The Story Of Yaakov Markus
Quoted from Maxim Ghilan 'How Israel Lost Its Soul' - Penguin Books (1974) p179:
'Yaakov Markus was born in Berlin on 22 November 1927 to a non-Jewish mother named Mathilde Markus and to a Jewish father. He came to Israel and in the fifties was drafted to serve in the 1956 Sinai campaign. He was killed there and buried provisionally at the Shelah Military Cemetery. Later this cemetery was abolished and the dead were transferred to other permanent graves. Yaakov Markus's bones were to be interred - as Jewish custom stipulates for Gentile dead - 'beyond the pale', that is, behind a small stone fence cordoning off a piece of the Haifa cemetery.
'In this plot were buried other non-Jewish fighters, pilots and technicians who lost their lives helping Israel win her independence in 1948 and preserving it in the years that followed. Markus's parents did not accept the Rabbinate's ruling. They wanted their son to be granted the same honor as the rest of his fallen friends - burial in the Military Cemetery. General Goren, the Chief Rabbi of the Israeli Army - a visionary racist who wanted the conquest of both banks of the Jordan, advocated a religious state and tried to modernize religion for that purpose - was not in the country. The bereaved parents appealed directly to the Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, who had to make a special ruling for them. Markus was finally buried in the same row as his fallen friends. But so that 'his bones should not be mingled with theirs', as Meshulam Schlesinger, Director of the Military Cemetery, put it, his grave was set somewhat apart.
'Meshulam Schlesinger officially stated that the corpse of Yaakov Markus had been circumcised after his death, to allow it to lie beside the Jewish fighters. This was later denied no less officially by the Ministry of Defense. But the grisly and macabre atmosphere surrounding the case has done much to deepen public concern.'

The Hell with Semitic Religions-Judaism-Christianity & Islam. Islam is a religion born out of inferiority complex and ambition of Mohammed. He initially used to admire Christians as people of the Book. The pages of these books cannot even be used as toilet paper.

Danish paper rejected Jesus cartoons

Gwladys Fouch on Monday February 6, 2006

Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper that first published the cartoons of the prophet Muhammad that have caused a storm of protest throughout the Islamic world, refused to run drawings lampooning Jesus Christ, it has emerged today.

The Danish daily turned down the cartoons of Christ three years ago, on the grounds that they could be offensive to readers and were not funny.
In April 2003, Danish illustrator Christoffer Zieler submitted a series of unsolicited cartoons dealing with the resurrection of Christ to Jyllands-Posten.

Zieler received an email back from the paper's Sunday editor, Jens Kaiser, which said: "I don't think Jyllands-Posten's readers will enjoy the drawings. As a matter of fact, I think that they will provoke an outcry. Therefore, I will not use them.".
how every opinion about double standard?
who is the hypocritic now?

this article was written by someone,not me,maybe an american muslim convert

Dear ISLAMOPHOBES: if Islam was bad why then all these western whites convert to Islam every year ???

A NATION CHALLENGED: AMERICAN MUSLIMS; Islam Attracts Converts By the Thousands, Drawn Before and After Attacks
By JODI WILGOREN
Source: The New York Times : October 22, 2001, Monday .

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/22/national/22CONV.html

cat Stevens (yusuf islam now)..ok.the man is a friend of prince charles

It's not fair to judge a man by his friends. That's what Senator McCarthy did. Guilt by association.

Thanks for reminding me what CS is now called.

Bob Doney

what is all that.have u got a master degree on cat Stevens (yususf islam now)..ok.the man is a friend of prince charles and before u say anything just search the net for that and se yourself. is charels is a terrorist too? / Charles is greatly support yusuf islam

when it i s said islam is fastest growing religion in the world. an dwhen it is said british embraces islam..do you expect to find alist of names?.
aslo if they listed you will say that you donot know anyone of them.do youknow all of british elite by names..aslo what about those who are professors or doctors..
i know a professor in cambriage univeristy who converted .
i can provide u by hisname too ..also doctors i hav eheard about them last month...
also when we concentrate on famous we unfair ordinary people which is unlogic especially in islam.
also when we say islam is fastest this is a fact .why they donot mention other faiths if it was influential..
by th eway all these statistics is made by nonmuslims.
see this link for more general information .looking forwards hearingfrom u

http://www.salaam.co.uk/themeofthemonth/june02_index.php?l=6

when it i s said islam is fastest growing religion in the world. an dwhen it is said british embraces islam..do you expect to find alist of names?.
aslo if they listed you will say that you donot know anyone of them.do youknow all of british elite by names..aslo what about those who are professors or doctors..
i know a professor in cambriage univeristy who converted .
i can provide u by hisname too ..also doctors i hav eheard about them last month...
also when we say islam is fastest this is a fact .why they donot mention other faiths if it was influential..
by th eway all these statistics is made by nonmuslims.
see this link for more general information .

http://www.salaam.co.uk/themeofthemonth/june02_index.php?l=6

when it i s said islam is fastest growing religion in the world. an dwhen it is said british embraces islam..do you expect to find alist of names?.
aslo if they listed you will say that you donot know anyone of them.do youknow all of british elite by names..aslo what about those who are professors or doctors..
i know a professor in cambriage univeristy who converted .
i can provide u by hisname too ..also doctors i hav eheard about them last month...
also when we say islam is fastest this is a fact .why they donot mention other faiths if it was influential..
by th eway all these statistics is made by nonmuslims.
see this link for more general information .

http://www.salaam.co.uk/themeofthemonth/june02_index.php?l=6

There are Great thoughts and order of life before christianity and Islam, in east. When the great structures of Bhudha destroyed by fundamentalist Islamic group of Afganistan, Where were this people, nobody condemed. The messages of Bhudha was much greater than any so called religion, 'Ahimsa' anybody knows the meaning? find out!
The great realization of the existece will be possible only if a person dump his ego of this world and become a part of the universe! The so called religious people's universe is so narrow. U can't have even a glimpse of the great truth of self realization....poor guys! be in the Hell of darkness! If u r so attached to the worldly life certainly u r in hell! This world is so tiny, less than a proton!, comparing the whole universe! so be there and fight each other!, and destroy the beautiful and the only planet where there is life(as per the present knowledge of humans) U are doing a Great JOb!!!!
The wise men will reach the peak, peacefully and silently! and the mass, ofcourse 'll follow him, the master of the age, with respect, ignoring the masters of the past whose universe and the world was so narrow!
MY dears, be humans, love each other, protect other beings, dont be killers, we all are from the same source of the Supreme! There are many many civilizations, Islam is not the only civilization and the last. If you say so you are in darkness. Pls. dont impose your darkness to the other very very bright cultures.

A truly peace loving person of the world and the universe.

basicly what your religion has done is: 1.)proven Mr. Rushdie correct
2.) galvanized the west against you. (keep up the good work, you're on a roll.)

We do not have to respect Islam or any other religion. We do not have to respect moslems or in fact any people with any other religious beliefs. However, we should and we must respect all people's right to have their beliefs. Tolera

hitler went to recycle bin of the history..
while prophet of islam is still alive in the hearts of one fourth of the earth and after more than 1400 of his death

"My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world's most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the religious and secular level."
Michael H. Hart, THE 100: A RANKING OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSONS IN HISTORY, New York: Hart Publishing Company, Inc., 1978, p. 33.