Kolkata clerics threaten Taslima Nasreen

KOLKATA, India (Reuters) - Muslim clerics in Kolkata issued a "death warrant" against controversial Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen on Friday, threatening her life if she did not leave the country where she lives in exile.

The threat came after a meeting of dozens of clerics from prominent mosques in Kolkata - where the writer lives - who said she had invited their wrath through her "repeated criticism" of Islam in her books and speeches.

While one prominent cleric said Nasreen had a month to leave, another said she had 15 days. Anyone who killed her would get a cash reward of 100,000 rupees ($2,400), they said.

"Anyone who executes the warrant will also be given additional rewards," said Nurur Rehman Barkati, a cleric of one of the biggest mosques in Kolkata.

The move by the clerics came a week after Nasreen was attacked by radical Muslims in Hyderabad during the launch of a translation of one of her novels.

Nasreen fled Bangladesh for the first time in 1994 when a court said she had "deliberately and maliciously" hurt Muslims' religious feelings with her Bengali-language novel "Lajja", or "Shame", which is about riots between Muslims and Hindus.

At the time, thousands of radical Muslims protested against her, demanding that she be killed for blasphemy.

Police said they had stepped up security around Nasreen's house in Kolkata after the clerics' announcement.

Nasreen said their illegal order destroyed India's secular image. "I have never hurt religious sentiments and strongly believe in freedom of speech," she told Reuters. "I am not afraid of death, but I am saddened by the turn of events."

Fatwa against army aid for Kashmir mosques finds support

source: http://www.southasianews.com/154663/Fatwa-against-army-aid-for-Kashmir-mosques-finds-support-.htm
Srinagar, May 31 (IANS) Several Kashmiri religious leaders have endorsed issuing of 'fatwa' (edicts) against accepting money or help from the Indian Army in rebuilding the state's mosques and shrines, as they say it is against Islamic law.
In a unanimous resolution adopted here Thursday, more than 50 local ulemas, muftis and custodians of local shrines asked President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to restrain the army from trying to intervene financially or otherwise in the construction, renovation or repair of the local mosques and shrines.
'We have asked the president, who is also the supreme commander of the Indian Armed Forces, and the prime minister to restrain the army from trying to intervene in our religious matters,' said Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the valley's chief priest, who is also chairman of the moderate group of the separatist Hurriyat Conference.
Reacting to the fatwa, Lt. Col. A.K. Mathur, the spokesman of the army's 15th corps, Thursday again said that the army had no intention to intervene in the religious affairs of any community in the Valley.
On Tuesday, Kashmir's Grand Mufti, Mufti Muhammad Bashir-ud-Din had issued a fatwa here saying the army's assistance in construction of local mosques and shrines was 'tantamount to intervention in the religious matters of the local Muslims'.

Christian arrested for visiting Mecca

The Saudi regime's Expatriates Monitoring Committee used a new high-tech finger-print system to identify Nirosh Kamanda of Sri Lanka as a Christian, reported Arab News, the government-approved English-language paper. "The Grand Mosque and the holy city are forbidden to non-Muslims," said Col. Suhail Matrafi, head of the department in charge of Expatriates Affairs in Mecca.
"The new fingerprints system is very helpful and will help us a lot to discover the identity of a lot of criminals and overstayers."When Saudi authorities discovered a man working in Mecca was a Christian, they immediately arrested him, highlighting the desert kingdom's law barring non-Muslims from the Islamic holy city. READ ENTIRE STORY HERE.
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