"It's really about a hatred of Muslims. That is what the whole heart of this is. ... Their idea is that there is no place for Muslims in America. They fail to understand the Constitution."
A jury on Friday acquitted four Christian missionaries accused of breaching the peace at the Dearborn International Arab Festival in June, but their attorney says the legal battle is far from over.
Robert Muise of the Thomas More Law Center plans to file a civil lawsuit on their behalf against the City of Dearborn "in short order," he said this morning on WJR-AM 760.
"They spent a night in jail for doing nothing but attending an Arab festival and daring to discuss their faith," he told host Frank Beckmann. "That can't happen in the United States."
Dearborn Police Chief Ron Haddad previously explained the evangelists "caused a stir" at the festival, and a police report indicated one of the missionaries was "screaming into the crowd" leading officers to arrest the group "to gain control of the situation and avoid a possible riotous crowd."
But the missionaries -- members of the Act 17 Apologetics group, which openly claims Islam is a false religion -- video recorded their interactions at the festival, evidence Muise said convinced the jury they did nothing to provoke a confrontation. Read More.
"It's really about a hatred of Muslims. That is what the whole heart of this is. ... Their idea is that there is no place for Muslims in America. They fail to understand the Constitution."
“Any individual who is given direction or order by hand, voice, emergency light, siren, or other visual or audible signal by a police officer acting in the lawful performance of his duty, and who willfully disobeys and/or disregards that direction or order, is guilty of a misdemeanor.”
This issue came before Dearborn Judge Mark W. Somers, who decided before our trial that the officer indeed had probable cause against Negeen. He reasoned that, since there had been a complaint by Roger Williams, police had reason to believe that Negeen had committed a crime."Today in Dearborn, the jury got it mostly right in finding Paul, David and Nabeel innocent of disturbing the peace. The city of Dearborn, the Dearborn Police and especially the Dearborn Mayor owe them a huge apology immediately.
However the guilty decision for Negeen Mayel's charge of failure to obey a police officer is extremely disturbing to me. I met with the ACLU here in Michigan recently to make sure we had good laws protecting citizens' right to video police officers and their activity and they said we have the model for other states. But based on today's decision, it seems that police in Michigan can get cameras turned off before doing questionable things (like making an arrest that was just found to be bogus by the jury). And how did the police have the right to tell Negeen Mayel to turn off her video camera and how can he touch her....for what reason? The video she took made it clear the police stepped way out of bounds.
Now - for all this charade, the city of Dearborn needs to be dealt with firmly....unless they plan to try to secede from the union and have their own laws. This is the United States of America and we here in the USA have something called Freedom of Speech. Dearborn - get used to it!"
"Regarding your question, how can the Quran be the word of Allah if God didn't enter into the world, every Muslim would tell you that the Quran was revealed through Gabriel, no verse was revealed in a direct fashion." - 1moremuslim (see here)
Introduction
There are many reasons to reject the idea that the Qur’an is or even could be a revelation from God. The following will demonstrate at least one of those ways. Rather than show that the Qur’an is false when judged on the basis of external criteria that Muslims would, on the basis of the Qur’an, object to, such as the Bible, it will be shown that that the Qur’an cannot be a revelation from God on the basis of its own criteria. Simply put: If what the Qur’an says about Allah is true, then what the Qur’an says about itself cannot be true.
“38. He is beyond having limits placed on Him, or being restricted, or having parts or limbs. Nor is He contained by the six directions as all created things are.”
“51. He encompasses all things and that which is above it, and what He has created is incapable of encompassing Him.” (online source)
What we must believe is that Allah existed and nothing existed with Him; that He created all creation, including the Throne, without becoming indicatable through them, nor did a direction arise for Him because of them; that He does not become immanent, that He does not change, and that He does not move from one state to another. (Aridat al-ahwadhi 2:234-237, as cited in Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, Encyclopedia of Islamic Doctrine, Beliefs, Vol 1, As-Sunnah Foundation of America, p. 155-156) (Emphasis mine)
Also mention in the Book (the story of) Moses: For he was specially chosen, and he was a messenger and a prophet. And We called him from the right side of Mount (Sinai), and made Him draw near to Us, for mystic (converse). (Surah 19:51-52) (Emphasis mine)In spite of the above, mainstream Muslims maintain that those who say Allah appeared to Moses in the fire, that he spoke from the fire, that his words were heard coming from a certain direction, etc., are misinterpreting these verses. Granting this claim for the sake of argument, this leads us to a second and worse problem for the Muslim view. The main way it is alleged that Allah revealed his words to the prophets, particularly to Muhammad, is through the medium of the angel Gabriel. Supposedly this gets Muslims off the hook by suggesting that it is Gabriel rather than Allah who speaks to man. But given the claim that Allah cannot enter into creation, not only would it have been impossible for Allah to communicate directly with Moses, or anyone else before or after him; it would also be impossible for Allah to communicate with man indirectly, even through an angelic medium.
Has the story of Moses reached thee? Behold, he saw a fire: so he said to his family, ‘Tarry ye; I perceive a fire; perhaps I can bring you some burning brand therefrom, or find some guidance at the fire.’ But when he came to the fire, a voice was heard: ‘O Moses! Verily I am thy Lord! Therefor (in My presence) put off thy shoes: thou art in the sacred valley Tuwa. I have chosen thee: Listen, then to the inspiration (sent to thee). Verily, I am Allah: there is no god but I: so serve thou Me (only), and establish regular prayer for celebrating My praise.” (Surah 20:9-14) (Emphasis mine)
Behold! Moses said to his family: ‘I perceive a fire; soon will I bring you from there some information, or I will bring you a burning brand to light our fuel, that ye may warm yourselves.’ But when he came to the (Fire), a voice was heard: ‘Blessed are those in the Fire and those around: and Glory to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. O Moses! Verily, I am Allah, the Exalted in Might, the Wise…” (Surah 27:7-9) [Yusuf Ali and others mistranslate the verse at this point. An accurate translation of verse 8 is provided by Sher Ali: "So when he came to it, he was called by a voice, `Blessed is he who is in the fire and also those around it, and glorified be ALLAH, the Lord of the worlds'".] (Emphasis mine)
When Moses had fulfilled the term, and was travelling with his family, he perceived a fire in the direction of Mount Tur. He said to his family: ‘Tarry ye; I perceive a fire; I hope to bring you from there some information, or a burning firebrand, that ye may warm yourselves. But when he came to the (Fire), a voice was heard from the right bank of the valley, from a tree in hallowed ground: O Moses! Verily I am Allah, the Lord of the Worlds”…(Surah 28:29-30) (Emphasis mine)
State Rep. Tom McMillin today made a procedural move to try to get action on a resolution regarding the case of four Christians who were arrested at the Arab Festival in Dearborn for discussing religion with attendees.
McMillin introduced the measure in July condemning the City of Dearborn's assault on freedom of speech and calling on the attorney general's office to investigate the incident, but the House of Representatives has not considered it.
The four are currently standing trial in Dearborn after being arrested for disorderly conduct.
"These four Christians were exercising their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech on public property and they were arrested for doing so," said McMillin, R-Rochester Hills. "Having attended a couple of the pre-trial hearings, it's clear to me that this has more to do with persecution of Christians than anything else."
Today, McMillin submitted a formal notice to discharge House Resolution 313 from the House Judiciary Committee. Source.
The French senate approved Tuesday a law banning any veils that cover the face -- including the burqa, the full-body covering worn by some Muslim women -- making France the first European country to plan such a measure.
The law passed by a vote of 246 to 1, with about 100 abstentions coming essentially from left-leaning politicians.
The legislation was overwhelmingly approved by the lower house of parliament in July and will go into effect next spring.
French people back the ban by a margin of more than four to one, the Pew Global Attitudes Project found in a survey earlier this year.
Some 82 percent of people polled approved of a ban, while 17 percent disapproved. That was the widest support the Washington-based think tank found in any of the five countries it surveyed.
Clear majorities also backed burqa bans in Germany, Britain and Spain, while two out of three Americans opposed it, the survey found.
A panel of French lawmakers recommended a ban last year, and lawmakers unanimously passed a non-binding resolution in May calling the full-face veil contrary to the laws of the nation.
"Given the damage it produces on those rules which allow the life in community, ensure the dignity of the person and equality between sexes, this practice, even if it is voluntary, cannot be tolerated in any public place," the French government said when it sent the measure to parliament in May.
The law imposes a fine of 150 euros ($190) and/or a citizenship course as punishment for wearing a face-covering veil. Forcing a woman to wear a niqab or a burqa will be punishable by a year in prison or a 15,000-euro ($19,000) fine, the government said, calling it "a new form of enslavement that the republic cannot accept on its soil." READ MORE
He (Pastor Terry Jones) said he decided to cancel his protest because the leader of a planned Islamic Center near ground zero has agreed to move its controversial location. READ MOREIf this is truly the case, then Terry Jones is a genius. If Imam Rauf is pulling a fast one on the Pastor from Florida, well, we'll just have to wait and see.
But as soon as Jones and al-Masri finished speaking, denials were issued that the Islamic community center and mosque would be moved away from its current controversial location.
"The Muslim Community Center called Park51 in Lower Manhattan is not being moved," read a statement from SoHo Properties, the developer of the community center that is being called the Ground Zero Mosque. READ MORE
(CNN)--A Florida pastor who called off a Quran burning said late Thursday he was "rethinking our position" after a Muslim leader said the minister incorrectly announced that the proposed Islamic center near New York's ground zero would be moved as part of a deal. Read more.
A pastor is facing a court date after sharing the gospel with Muslims -- in Kansas.
About 14 people, including three senior pastors, went to the local mosque to distribute to Muslims packets containing the books of John and Romans in English and Arabic and a DVD with testimonies of former Muslims. Pastor Mark Holick of Spirit One Christian Center was one of those passing out the packets to people leaving the mosque.
Holick tells OneNewsNow that when local police officers arrived on the scene, he was handcuffed then detained in a patrol car, where he repeatedly asked what crime he had committed.
"And then about 15 minutes later, 20 minutes later, something like that, they finally came over and told me that I was being charged with 'loitering' and 'failure to disperse,'" the pastor shares.
Asked if this episode occurred in Saudi Arabia, he replies, with a chuckle: "No, this was in Wichita, Kansas."
The pastor says it was very disconcerting to see the gospel squelched -- especially on a public sidewalk in a country with a constitutional guarantee of free speech. Holick believes police are suggesting that he was blocking traffic on the driveway.
"Of course we never did do that," he assures. "There would be no reason for us to block vehicles -- and they probably have no idea how much I like all of my organs and bones perfectly in the position they're in right now."
Holick says serious free-speech rights are in question, so he is asking the Alliance Defense Fund to represent him. There has been no decision on that so far. Source.
A Florida pastor ignites tensions among Muslims days before 9/11 anniversary.
The crowd in downtown Kabul reached nearly 500 today, with Afghan protesters chanting "Long live Islam " and "Long live the Quran," and burning an effigy of Terry Jones, senior pastor from the Dove World Outreach Center in Florida who is planning the event.
The protesters were well aware of the pastor's inflammatory comments, such as the "Islam is an evil religion," since they have been spread wide on the Internet. Jones has also authored a book, "Islam Is of the Devil."
The protesters' anger wasn't limited to Jones, however. Chants of "Death to America" echoed through the crowd, and U.S. flags were set ablaze alongside the effigy of Jones.
"America cannot eliminate Muslims from the world," one Afghan man told ABC News.
The angry crowd pelted a passing U.S. military convoy with rocks.
Gen. David Petraeus said he is outraged by the pastor's decision to burn the Quran, which he said could "endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort here."
Former Vice Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Jack Keane, an adviser to Petraeus, called it "outrageous" and "insulting to Muslims."
"It's also insulting to our soldiers in terms of what they stand for and what their commitment is to this country and to the Muslims in this country," Keane told ABC News.
But late today, Jones vowed he would go ahead with the Quran burning, even knowing the concerns of Petraeus and Keane for the safety of U.S. troops.
"What we are doing is long overdue. We are revealing the violence of Islam that is much, much deeper than we'd like to admit," Jones said in an interview with ABC News.
A Facebook page dedicated to the day, entitled "International Burn A Koran Day" has more than 8,000 fans.
"On September 11th, 2010, from 6pm - 9pm, we will burn the Koran on the property of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, FL in remembrance of the fallen victims of 9/11 and to stand against the evil of Islam. Islam is of the devil!" the page declares.
Over a hundred other pages have sprung up for and against the event on Sept. 11, incidentally the same day as a Muslim holiday called Eid, celebrating the last day of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.
Some Muslims fear that images of celebration could fuel further tensions with Americans that day. But in the meantime, in Kabul, there is word that a protest planned for Tuesday could be even larger than the one today.
FOX NEWS--Despite the smells of fried dough and roasted meat wafting from the Minnesota State Fair, Salim and Zuleyha Ozonder were focused on the people who were leaving, not the food or festivities beckoning from across the street.
Each time a new wave of people exited, the young Minneapolis residents — who hadn't eaten all day — tried to press into their hands a small, glossy card that read "Islam Explained" on one side. On the other, it had about 180 words of background on a religion whose adherents fear is being misunderstood by too many Americans as violent and depraved.
"You just want people to take the card, spend a minute reading it and say, 'Oh. They're not terrorists,'" said 27-year-old Zuleyha. She and her husband, like other Muslims, were fasting during daylight hours for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
For most fairgoers, the last thing on their mind is religion — particularly the renewed controversy over Islam in America amid tension over plans for an Islamic center and mosque a few blocks from New York City's ground zero. But volunteers with the Minnesota chapter of Islamic Circle of North America saw the mostly white, Christian fair crowd as just the type of audience that might benefit from greater understanding.
The "Great Minnesota Get-Together" is one of the largest and best-attended state fairs in the country. Every day for 12 days through Labor Day, hundreds of thousands of people stream onto the fairgrounds north of St. Paul to scarf highly caloric food, stare at farm animals, clamber onto carnival rides and enjoy concerts by country singers and classic rock dinosaurs.
"What are they doing here?" said Paulette Kahlstorf of Zimmerman, who declined a card from Zuleyha as she left the fairgrounds with her husband. "I didn't come here for that."
A minute later, Kahlstorf elaborated that she didn't have a problem with all Muslims: "Just the radical ones." And she said she didn't mind their decision to hand out the cards, which include a toll-free number that anyone can call to request a free copy of the Quran. Read More.
On Friday evening, June 18th, 2010, I was volunteering at the International Arab Festival located in Dearborn MI. I had come into contact with two men that were going through the festival passing out literature. They both had backpacks on and they were filled with flyers. I explained to them both that they were not any literature inside of the festival. They both said no problem and left and took the backpacks offs. I saw them both about an hour later and one of them came up to me and apologize to me and let me know that he would not pass out anything and he just wanted to talk to some of the Arabic people. I shook his hand and thanked him and as he was leaving the men and a lady surrounded me with their cameras want to know why that those guys could not pass out flyers. I told them I was not willing to talk on camera and to turn the camera off. Then one got right behind and one on either side of me. I felt I was being trapped and felt as I was being threatened. I told them I would call security and they started saying, “tell me what law we broke?” I again told them that I am not speaking to them and to please turn the camera off. At this time one the Chamber workers, Amal had been watching the whole thing and called for one of the volunteers to take pictures of each one for identification purposes. She and a few others broke through their group and escorted me out from them. We then we to the police and made a complaint.
I have tried to put everything I remember exactly as it happened. I hope I did not leave anything out. If you need additional information please contact me at the phone number and address below.
Thank you
Roger A Williams
If you need to me come up there for any court as a witness I would be more than happy to. These guys are liars and try to insight riots. I have reviewed some stuff they have placed on You tube and no of it is accurate.
"Watching in the court, two hours of debate yesterday between the city prosecutor, the judge and the defendants' attorney, it is crystal clear that the city of Dearborn has no case whatsoever and is only doing this to attack free speech of Christians."
"It seems to me they are trying to silence Christians -- not the citizens of Dearborn, some officials . . . There's nothing that warrants this persecution by the city of Dearborn."
Monday morning, at the 19th District Court in Dearborn, Judge Mark Somers deliberated over a pre-trial hearing concerning an incident which occurred at Dearborn’s 15th annual Arab International Festival on Friday, June 14th. As previously reported in the Dearborn Free Press, several people affiliated with the Acts 17 Apologetics group were arraigned on July 12th, on charges of “breach of peace”. The four Christians, David Wood (a 34 year old former atheist) from Bronx, New York, Dr. Nabeel Qureshi (a 29 year old former Muslim) from Virginia, Nageen Mayel (a recent convert from Islam to Christianity), and Paul Rezkalla (18) from New York were charged with “breach of peace” or disturbing the peace. However, 18-year-old Nageen Mayel, who was operating a video camera on the night of June 14th, was also charged with “refusing to obey a police officer’s order to stop video taping”. (It was not clear at first if police intended to arrest Ms. Mayel, or just investigate her.)
The defendant’s attorney, Robert Muise of the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), filed a Motion for a Bill of Particulars (in an attempt to clarify the specific charges) with the City of Dearborn on July 27. On August 3rd, Judge Somers converted the Motion for a Bill of Particulars into a Motion to Dismiss, giving the City of Dearborn 14 days to respond.
During the pre-trial on August 30, Judge Somers reviewed arguments from both sides and asked the attorneys for clarification on some issues, postponing any decision until he receives the additional information. Judge Somers stated that he had reviewed most of the 6 hours of video tape, and asked questions about the chronology of events. Somers indicated that in the video tapes he had reviewed, the dialogue of Dr. Qureshi was “very civil and polite”. He also requested better audio recordings of the Nageen Mayel arrest, perhaps to resolve confusion regarding the criminal complaint about Ms. Mayel. Judge Somers also requested that Assistant City Attorney William M. Debiasi provide citations for several cases that were referenced as being pertinent to this case. If the case goes to trial it would most likely begin on Monday, Sept. 20, 2010. Read More.
A district court judge in Michigan declined to dismiss a case against four street preachers who were arrested back in June after engaging in conversations with attendees of a large Arab festival.
Judge Marks Somers of 19th District Court in Dearborn heard arguments for two hours on Monday and said he needed clarification on some issues that had been raised before deciding whether or not to drop the charges against Negeen Mayel, Dr. Nabeel Qureshi, Paul Rezkalla, and David Wood.
Defense attorney Robert Muise, senior trial counsel with the Thomas More Law Center, argued in court that the group did nothing wrong and that their arrest violates their constitutional rights of freedom of speech and religion.
"My clients should not stand trial for exercising their First Amendment rights," Muise said. Read More.
