International Director Al-Alawi on Shariah Courts in Britain
Sunrise Radio [London], July 21, 2009
www.sunriseradio.com/news/
An Islamic thinktank has warned of the increasing use of sharia law in Britain becoming dangerous. The international director of the Centre for Islamic Pluralism, Dr Irfan Al-Alawi, commented on today’s revelations [in The Times of London] that more non-Muslims are using sharia courts to settle commercial and civil disputes. Dr Al-Alawi says there is a risk that qazis, who make the rulings, base judgements on different schools of thought which may not comply with English law. He believes the number of people using these courts is likely to increase, and that as British citizens, we should follow the law of the land

Al-Alawi on Obama and Middle East issues - VOA Urdu Service (Washington), June 8, 2009
Center for Islamic Pluralism international director Dr Irfan Al-Alawi was included in a panel reacting to U.S. President Barack Obama's Cairo speech and other Middle East issues, broadcast by the Voice of America Urdu Service on June 9, 2009. A recording of the broadcast is available here

The Cicero Foundation, a European think-tank, has posted the text of a lecture by Centre for Islamic Pluralism Executive Director Stephen Schwartz, titled "Moldova and Russia: What is the Background of Moscow's Meddling?" as its Great Debate Paper No. 09/4.
The paper may be of interest to CIP correspondents in that it encompasses Russian policies during and after the fall of Communism, affecting Muslims in the Balkans and Caucasus as well as non-Russian Christians such as the Romanians, Moldovans, and Georgians.
The Centre for Islamic Pluralism expresses its gratitude to The Cicero Foundation for this honor. Click the link below to access the file
www.cicerofoundation.org/lectures/Stephen_Schwartz_Moldova_and_Russia.pdf

Centre for Islamic Pluralism international director Dr Irfan Al-Alawi has recorded an interview on the new CIP report,
"A Guide to Shariah Law and Islamist Ideology in Western Europe, 2007-2009," for London Sunrise Radio, a major UK programme. The interview will be broadcast and rebroadcast as a news bulletin all day Tuesday, May 26, 2009, since Monday will, in the UK, be a holiday as in the U.S.
The CIP survey on Shariah in Europe is a free, downloadable .PDF, at
www.islamicpluralism.org/CIPReports/CIPEuroShariahStudy2009.pdf and www.islamicpluralism.eu/PDFs/CIPEuroShariahStudy2009.pdf
London Sunrise Radio is accessible at www.sunriseradio.com

For an MP3 of the broadcast, click here

Centre for Islamic Pluralism International Director Dr Irfan Al-Alawi will speak live on South African Radio on the fire reported 1 May 2009 at a major construction site in the Islamic holy city of Mecca, in Saudi Arabia.
The fire has gained little attention in Western media. Dr Al-Alawi's appearance will be broadcast at 8.45am South African time, 7.45am UK local time, on 4th May 2009.
Dr Al-Alawi's talk may be accessed at http://ciinetwork.net/broadcasting/

10th of Muharrem 1430 A.H. -- Ashura Greetings from the Center for Islamic Pluralism
The Center for Islamic Pluralism, representing Muslim intellectuals and correspondents in countries around the world, extends its greetings to Islamic believers on the occasion of Ashura, the 10th of Muharrem, 1430 A.H., January 7, 2009 C.E.
Ya Husayn!

www.islamicpluralism.org | www.islamicpluralism.eu | www.islamicpluralism.de
Washington/London/Köln/Sarajevo
10 Muharrem 1430 A.H.
January 7, 2009 C.E.

Centre for Islamic Pluralism international director Dr. Irfan Al-Alawi will speak on three British Broadcasting Corporation radio programmes on the morning of Monday, December 15, 2008. He will discuss domestic violence and forced marriage among Muslims, a topic on which CIP is preparing a major publication.
The three programmes, with their schedules (UK time), will be broadcast as follows:
Radio 5 live at 8.05am
www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/programmes/schedules/2008/12/22
Then BBC Radio at 8.30am
www.bbc.co.uk/wales/radiowales/
Finally BBC Asian network between 12pm and 12.30pm
www.bbc.co.uk/asiannetwork/

Uyghurs as indigenous people; a new UHRP report highlights Chinese government violations of Uyghurs' indigenous rights
December 10, 2008, 7:15 pm EST
Contact: Uyghur American Association +1 (202) 349 1496

As the world marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Uyghurs in East Turkestan (also known as Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, in the People's Republic of China) continue to experience human rights abuses in nearly every aspect of their lives. A new report by the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) details the PRC’s violations of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in the case of the Uyghur people.
On September 13, 2007, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), along with 142 other countries, voted to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. By voting for the Declaration, the PRC recognized that indigenous persons are a particularly vulnerable group in general and specifically supported the principles outlined and rights explicitly enumerated in the articles of this long awaited essential human rights Declaration.
In practice, the PRC government violates almost every article of the Declaration that it supported at the UN, routinely violating the fundamental rights of the Uyghur people. Uyghurs’ culture, religion and language are all under attack by the PRC government. Uyghurs do not have substantive control over their own education, media, or employment, and they have no voice in the region’s government. Uyghurs are also denied access to or benefit from East Turkestan’s land and resources.
"While UNDRIP guarantees Uyghurs' rights across a spectrum of areas, the reality is that Uyghurs are marginalized in their own homeland," said Uyghur democracy leader Rebiya Kadeer. "Uyghurs also lack access to any mechanism with which they can seek redress for violations of their rights."
UHRP's report begins by briefly reviewing the development of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and demonstrating that the Uyghurs are the indigenous people of East Turkestan. The main body of the report then examines the Articles of the Declaration with respect to the Uyghur case, by discussing violations of articles in categories such as Fundamental Rights, Life and Security, and Culture, Religion and Language (among others). While not all-inclusive, the report highlights some of the most egregious ways in which Uyghurs’ fundamental, social and cultural rights are violated by the Chinese government, with respect to international law and often domestic law as well. For instance, in the area of Culture, Religion and Language, the report examines the ways in which the PRC controls the freedom of religion for Uyghurs in East Turkestan, effectively undermining Uyghurs’ identity. In conclusion, the report offers suggestions to address the situation, both to the United Nations and the Chinese government.
The report, United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and the Uyghurs of East Turkestan (also known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region or XUAR, People’s Republic of China), can be downloaded at http://uhrp.org/docs/final_UNDRIP.pdf

Centre for Islamic Pluralism International Director Dr. Irfan Al-Alawi will be interviewed on CIP's campaign against violence toward Muslim women, on the BBC World Service on Friday, October 24, 2008

The show will be broadcast three times:

Breakfast Programme:
www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/world_today.shtml

Lunchtime News Hour:
www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/newshour.shtml

Shorter Version on PM Radio Four:
www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/pm/

Obey your country's laws, Marje Sistani urges Muslims in West
by Mohamed Ali
MONTREAL, Canada: Iraq's Al-Marje Al-Alaa Ali Sistani sent a message to Muslims in Western nations, urging them to obey the laws of the countries in which they live. The fatwa was delivered at a Montreal news conference of prominent Shia Muslims on behalf of Ayatullah Sayyed Ali As-Sistani.
"Muslims have undertaken to obey the laws of the country of their residence and thus they must be faithful to that undertaking," the statement read. It condemned all acts of violence and encouraged imams to keep a watchful eye on what's going on inside their mosques

Al-Alawi on Sunrise Radio [London], July 11, 2008
Centre for Islamic Pluralism International Director Dr. Irfan Al-Alawi spoke on Sunrise Radio in London about Muslim rejection of shariah in the UK at 1700 hrs GMT today, Friday, July 11, 2008.
www.sunriseradio.com

Centre for Islamic Pluralism International Director Dr. Irfan Al-Alawi spoke live on the air at 16.30 hrs UK time from London on South African radio, regarding the Wahhabi vandalism in Makkah. The broadcast is accessible on the internet at www.ciinetwork.net/broadcasting/

Schwartz on Gulen, Galloway's PressTV program, London, June 26, 2008
Background Note - The British opinion journal PROSPECT and the U.S. journal FOREIGN POLICY were recently surprised when a global poll on the world's public intellectuals produced a vote naming Fethullah Gulen, the Turkish Sufi figure, as the number one such personality. This was a great surprise to PROSPECT and FOREIGN POLICY, neither of which ever before heard of Gulen. On Sunday, June 29, 22:07 GMT, PressTV in Britain will broadcast an interview of Center for Islamic Pluralism Executive Director Stephen Suleyman Schwartz with George Galloway, British MP, on the program "The Real Deal." The show may be heard on the internet at http://www.georgegalloway.com/ The show will be reposted to CIP websites. In the interview, Schwartz noted that the attempt at a public relations coup by the followers of Gulen had backfired, presenting the group to the West as manipulative and cultish. Schwartz described the background of the Gulen movement in Islamic history and Turkish politics. Galloway evoked the general bafflement of Western observers at this strange incident. "Fethullah Gulen wished to be thought of as a Muslim Pope or Dalai Lama but appeared after the PROSPECT affair more as a Muslim version of any number of disreputable cultists", Schwartz commented later

Israeli historians gather in Albania to study how country's Jews escaped Holocaust
Associated Press
Israeli and European historians gathered in Albania Tuesday to study how the country rescued its tiny Jewish population from the Holocaust.
"The heroic rescue of Jews in Albania is very exceptional," said Mordechai Arbell, of the World Jewish Congress, "Jews have been saved in Albania for almost 2,000 years. The special harmonious life of the religious communities in this country must be an example to the world."
Some 1,200 Jewish residents and refugees from other Balkan countries were hidden by Albanian families during World War II, according to official records.
Albania was occupied between 1939 to 1943 by fascist Italy, followed by Nazi Germany until 1944. Resistance fighters who helped liberate the country formed the communist party that ruled Albania until 1990. Conference organizers said the event was aimed at gathering information on how Albania became a haven for persecuted Jews - a development that has received little international attention because Albania remained isolated for decades under communism.
Albanian Jewry is the only Jewish community in Europe whose numbers even grew under German occupation, said Dan Michman, professor of Modern Jewish History at Israel's Bar-Ilan University. The two-day conference was opened by Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha.
About 300 Jews were living in Albania at the collapse of communism in 1990, but most have since emigrated to the United States and Israel