Old Albania - Sworn Virgins, A Completely Different Take on Gender Fluidity

The last bastion of 'sworn virgins': Albania

Briseida Mema and Nicolas Gaudichet


Shkurtan Hasanpapaj, 84, is one of Albania's last "sworn virgins", women who become honorary men, taking on the role of the man in their community

At the age of 16, living in a remote village in northern Albania, Shkurta Hasanpapaj faced being forced into marriage.

There was just one way out, and the young woman grasped it: she took the ancient, gender-bending oath to become a "sworn virgin".

At a stroke, her life changed. She renounced sex, married life and parenthood. But in return, she won the right to live as a man and lead her family in a fiercely patriarchal society.

Nearly seven decades later, Hasanpapaj prefers to go by the male form of her name, Shkurtan.

"I chose to be with the men," she said, as short white hair poked from beneath a cap.

"Those who like me call me Shkurtan, those who want to offend me use Shkurta."

Seeing out the end of her life in a hospice in the northwestern city of Shkodra, Hasanpapaj is among the last of the sworn virgins -- a social status once common in Albania and its neighbours in the Balkans.

Today experts estimate that fewer than 10 remain.

The exceptional life of the sworn virgin is rooted in the Kanun of Leke Dukagjini, a mediaeval code of conduct that was passed down orally among the clans of the craggy peaks and verdant valleys of northern Albania.

The Kanun, which also lays out the rules for the nation's notorious blood feuds, allows two ways to become a "virgjinesha", as sworn virgins are called in Albanian.

One possibility is when all males in the family are dead or gone, and a girl takes the oath in order to take over male duties and rights.

The other is to invoke it to peacefully avoid an arranged marriage. Without the oath, blood can be shed.

Refusing a proposal is seen as a major affront that can ignite a feud between the families of the would-be bride and suitor that can span generations.

You don't have to "serve food with your head bowed" 

Sworn virgins win the right to hold a job, smoke, knock back shots of fiery raki liquor at the bar, wear trousers and even make family decisions.

You don't have to "serve food with your head bowed" and "disappear without looking at the guests", said 62-year-old Djana Rakipi, who also goes by Lali.

She was born in the remote Tropoja region in northern Albania, but now lives on the coast in Durres.

Dressed in a tie and military beret -- Rakipi chainsmokes, has a crushing handshake and takes clear pleasure when the guard at the local port calls her "boss".

Rakipi said that, for her, the oath was a form of liberty. The alternative path laid out for women in the Kanun is one of subservience, hard domestic labour and total lack of control.

"It was difficult for women to be part of life," said Rakipi. "Being free was taboo."


- 'They mixed with men' -

For Hasanpapaj the pressure to change came early. She and her twin sister, born in 1932, were seen as a catastrophe by their parents who had already had three sons die. Her sister was named Sose -- "That's enough" in Albanian.

Her sister was named Sose -- "That's enough" in Albanian

During the post-World War II communist regime of Enver Hoxha, Hasanpapaj was a leader of the local branch of the communist party and headed up "a brigade of about 50 farmers".

"I was tough," she said.

Rakipi also feels nostalgia for the communist regime "that always recognised me as a man", worked as a soldier training students to assemble a Kalashnikov rifle. She later became a police officer.

Much like Hasanpapaj, Rakipi says "she doesn't give a damn" about not having kids and brushed off the matters of sex and relationships.

"I am in love with nature, the sun. I paint," Rakipi said. "What better love is there than that?"

"Two men (or) two women getting married,

that is the end of the world,"

Both these sworn virgins firmly reject homosexuality. With Rakipi saying it is "not moral".

"Two men and two women getting married, that is the end of the world," she added.

For British anthropologist Antonia Young, author of a book on sworn virgins, sexuality had nothing to do with the custom.

The "virgjinesha" gained the privilege of being admitted into a male-only world, although their gender was never changed on their birth certificates.

"They were definitely within the masculine world. They mixed with men, they socialised with men, they drank with them, particularly in cafes," she said.

For any women today who may be tempted to taking the oath of becoming a sworn virgin, much of the significance of the act will be lost as so much has changed in Albanian society, said Young.

"It won't be the same -- it won't be for the benefit of the family or the community," she said. "It would just be for individual choice."

Philippine Crime War Packs Decaying Jails

Duterte style law and order - hundreds killed, thousands jailed, and he's just getting started

By AFP

Mario Dimaculangan shares a toilet with 130 other inmates in one of the Philippines' most overcrowded jails, and conditions are getting worse as police wage an unprecedented war on crime.

Security forces have killed hundreds of people and detained thousands more in just one month as they have followed the orders of President Rodrigo Duterte, who has said the top priority at the start of his six-year term is to eliminate drugs in society.

Those detained appear doomed for lengthy stints in an underfunded and overwhelmed penal system, like in the Quezon City Jail where Dimaculangan has wallowed for 14 years while his trial over murder and robbery charges have dragged on.


Inmates sleep on the ground of a basketball court inside the Quezon City jail at night in Manila on July 19, 2016 ©Noel Celis (AFP)

"Many go crazy. They cannot think straight. It's so crowded. Just the slightest of movements and you bump into something or someone," Dimaculangan told AFP in one of the jail's packed hallways that reeked of sweat.

There are 3,800 inmates at the jail, which was built six decades ago to house 800, and they engage in a relentless contest for space.

Men take turns to sleep on the cracked cement floor of an open-air basketball court, the steps of staircases, underneath beds and hammocks made out of old blankets. Even then, bodies are packed like sardines in a can, with inmates unable to fully stretch out.

When it rains, the conditions are even worse as inmates cannot sleep on the basketball court, which is surrounded by the cells in decaying concrete buildings up to four storeys high.

The cash-strapped national government has a daily budget of just 50 pesos ($1.10) for food and five pesos (11 cents) for medicine per inmate, although with the bulk buying of supplies, Quezon City Jail detainees have a sustainable diet of soup, vegetables and meat.

Pales of water are used to flush the scarce toilets, with the stench compounded by the rotting garbage in a nearby canal.


- Unthinkable conditions -

The jail's management does what it can to make life bearable, such as running dance competitions and other rehabilitation activities.

Inmates also say there have been improvements in recent years, particularly with the food and more rehabilitation programmes.

But Raymund Narag, a criminal justice scholar at the Southern Illinois University in the United States, said such conditions were unthinkable in Western nations.

"If this happened in America, there would be a riot every day. Courts would declare these jails unfit for human habitation," Narag told AFP.

The Philippine penal system is the third most congested in the world, according to the University of London's Institute for Criminal Policy Research.

Jails nationwide have nearly five times more inmates than they were built for, according to government data.

And the situation is set to get much worse, very quickly.

Under Duterte's crime war, police have reported arresting more than 4,300 people for drug-related crimes since he took office on June 30.

Duterte has repeatedly urged his law enforcers to do more, calling on them to triple their efforts to eradicate the drug menace that he says is threatening to turn the Philippines into a narco-state.

The population of Quezon City Jail, which houses inmates in a northern district of the Philippine capital who are on trial but not yet convicted, has grown by 300 since Duterte won May elections.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre told AFP the government was preparing locations for new prisons while courts have been ordered to prioritise the expected deluge of drug cases.

But Duterte has said little about far-reaching reforms needed to fix the systemic problem of overcrowding.

"If there are no new jails, no budget increases, no additional courts and prosecutors, the system will explode. That will be a humanitarian crisis," said Narag, the scholar who speaks from harrowing personal experience.


- Justice delayed -

Narag, 41, was locked up in Quezon City Jail in 1995 as a 20-year-old after being accused of killing a student from a rival college fraternity.

It took seven years for a court to acquit him, which is about the average length of a trial in the Philippines and one of the main drivers of the overcrowding problem.

Dimaculangan is the longest-serving inmate in Quezon City Jail, after being charged with killing a politician's relative in 2001. Dimaculangan is a pseudonym, because his real name cannot be used for legal reasons.

Sounds a little like the Ol' Bailey in the 19th century.

He insists he has a "clear conscience" but cannot get a chance to prove his innocence in court, averaging just one trial hearing a year in a chaotic judicial system notorious for its lack of judges, publicly funded lawyers and court rooms.

Dimaculangan said his spirits used to rise when he was informed of a date for a court hearing, but he had been disappointed too many times with cancellations or postponements.

"Now when they say I have a hearing, I don't care anymore," he said.

With no hopes of freedom, Dimaculangan said he had turned to his Catholic faith and values.

"My purpose is to help my fellow detainees," he said.

"God did not send me here because I am a thief. There are many thieves out there but how come they are not in jail?"


Inmates are packed into a basketball court to sleep at night inside Quezon City Jail, built to house 800 but now accommodating 3,800 ©Noel Celis (AFP)


Inmates take turns to sleep on the floor of an open-air basketball court, the steps of staircases, or underneath beds ©Noel Celis (AFP)


An inmate (C-top) cooks his dinner as other detainees take a bath inside the Quezon City Jail in Manila ©Noel Celis (AFP)


The jail's management does what it can to make life bearable, such as running dance competitions and other rehabilitation activities ©Noel Celis (AFP)


Inmates participate in a group dance contest inside the Quezon City Jail ©Noel Celis (AFP)


Inmate Mario Dimaculangan (C) is the longest serving inmate at Quezon City Jail after being charged with killing a politician's relative in 2001 ©Noel Celis (AFP)

The Cost of Turkey's Failed Coup: $100 Billion

The Turkish government said estimate could go higher after detailed calculations are made

This is not actually true. The actual cost of the failed coup is not likely more than a few million dollars. But the cost of Erdogan's purging pogrom will run in the 100s of billions.

By Ed Adamczyk  


People wave Turkish flags during a demonstration in support of the Turkish president in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 16, 2016 following an attempted military coup. Turkey's trade minister estimated the cost of the coup to the economy at $100 billion Monday. Photo by Hanna Noori/ UPI | License Photo

ANKARA , Turkey, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- Turkey's trade minister estimated the cost to the national economy of the July 15 failed military coup, and its aftermath, at $100 billion.

Customs and Trade Minister Bulent Tufenkci announced the estimate Monday, adding the figure could increase.

"When we consider all those warplanes, helicopters, weapons, bombs and buildings, the cost is 300 billion liras ($100.1 billion) at minimum, according to our prior calculations," he told journalists in Ankara. "The exact cost may likely increase when the detailed calculations are made. There will also be various costs in the medium-term. For instance, many orders from abroad have been canceled. Many foreigners have halted their Turkey visits. The coup plotters have unfortunately created a Turkey image as if it were a third world country. People who see tanks in the streets and the parliament bombed will not come to Turkey."

Neither will people who see tens of thousands of arrests within hours of the failed coup. It's either indiscriminate incarceration or it's been planned for a long time; either is not very reassuring to tourists.

He added that markets remained stable during the coup attempt, all banks and stock exchanges remained open, there was no evidence of a decline in foreign investment and no growth or export data needed to be revised.

The only sector struggling, Tufenkci said, was the tourism industry, noting it has been hampered for months because of the Russian economy, terrorist attacks earlier in the summer and the cancellation of vacations of civil servants while Turkey is under a state of emergency.

A government promotional campaign to aid the tourism industry will begin soon, he added.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim contended Monday the economy may be stronger than before, with the coup attempt acting as a stress test.

"Our economy is still as steady as a rock. There was not even a minor economic shock. But, this situation disturbed some sides. Our democracy and state of law is also stronger than before the attempted coup," he said, the Rudaw news agency reported.

State of law, maybe, but democracy, not likely.

Attitudes Toward Migrants Still Hardening in Some European Countries

‘Ground for barbaric attacks’: Czech president speaks out against accepting refugees

© Leonhard Foeger / Reuters

Czech President Milos Zeman believes that accepting refugees from the Middle East and Africa, to which the current government has agreed, will create conditions for German and France-style terrorist attacks in his home country.

“Our country simply cannot afford to risk terrorist attacks like what occurred in France and Germany. By accepting migrants we would create fertile ground for barbaric attacks,” Zeman said, according to his spokesman Jiri Ovcacek, Reuters reported.

Though the president in the Czech Republic is sometimes compared to his counterparts in Hungary or Austria and regarded as a mere figurehead, the office in fact wields considerable authority in political affairs.

Zeman has been one of the strongest opponents to the decision made by the current government of Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka that agreed to accept 80 Syrian refugees from Turkish refugee camps in 2016 under a European Union agreement.

This is a tiny share compared to other European countries, with an estimated 31,000 Syrians having been accepted by Germany, 24,000 taken in by France and almost 15,000 that found shelter in Spain.

The recent terrorist attacks that rocked France and Germany over the weeks have only strengthened Zeman’s opinion on the matter, Ovcacek said at a regular news conference.

“The president does not agree with any acceptance of migrants on Czech territory,” Ovacacek added.

Sobotka stressed in a recent interview that his government’s stance against uncontrolled migration remains firm. However, it’s not right to enforce “collective guilt,” thinking that “every Muslim is a terrorist.”

The Czech Republic, along with Slovakia, Romania, Poland and Hungary, objected to the European Union quota system that planned to relocate 120,000 refugees from Italy and Greece to the rest of Europe. The scheme was accepted despite the disagreement voiced by the Central and Eastern European countries.

The Czechs, however, didn’t challenge the plan in court as Slovakia and Hungary did, with the latter to hold a referendum on October 2 to ask people whether they agree to accept the EU quota system.

Zeman is known for his bold statements and quite controversial positions.

In July, he also called for a referendum on the Czech Republic’s membership of the EU and NATO. The call came after Britain made a historic decision to leave the bloc. The president noted that he wants his country to remain in both organizations, but people must be given a chance to “express themselves.”

In January, Zeman said that “the integration of the Muslim community [into Europe] is practically impossible.”

In 2015, he branded the influx of refugees from the Middle East and Africa into Europe as an “organized invasion,” urging young refugees to go back to Iraq and Syria, “take up arms” and engage in the fight against Islamic State.

‘Not medicine, but poison’: Hungarian PM says his country does not need ‘a single migrant’

Migrants from the Middle East and Asia walk on their way to Hungary in Belgrade, Serbia, July 22, 2016. © Marko Djurica / Reuters

Right-wing Hungarian leader Victor Orban said refugees are less than welcome in Hungary, calling them “a poison” and “terror risk” at a joint press conference with his Austrian counterpart. He also rejected the migration policy the EU is trying to impose.

Orban, who is known as a harsh critic of the mandatory migrant quota scheme that the EU proposed in February, argued that there is no reason for Hungary to take in any migrants, as its economy and demography would be better off without them.

“Hungary does not need a single migrant for the economy to work, or the population to sustain itself, or for the country to have a future,” he said, stressing, that, on the contrary, “every single migrant poses a public security and terror risk.”

“This is why there is no need for a common European migration policy,” he said, insisting that the right to decide migration issues should be reserved exclusively for national governments. Orban went on to say that “whoever needs migrants can take them, but don’t force them on us, we don’t need them.”

As far as Hungary is concerned, “migration is not a solution but a problem... not medicine but a poison, we don’t need it and won’t swallow it,” he argued.

Earlier this month, the Hungarian PM called a referendum on the mandatory quota system, which is to be held on October 2. Arguing that, if enacted, the reform would challenge Hungary’s sovereignty in internal matters, Orban has urged Hungarians to reject the EU’s proposal.

“We believe that only Hungarians, not Brussels, can decide who we want to live with in Hungary,” he said when announcing the date for the vote.

Hungary and three other central European states that constitute the Visegrad Four group, which includes Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, have been opposing the mandatory quotas the EU wants to impose on each member state.

In December of last year, Hungary filed a lawsuit with the European Court of Justice to thwart the EU’s attempt to redistribute incoming arrivals across the European Union, of which some 2,300 would be resettled in Hungary, if the EU gets its way.

In a recent interview with RT, Orban also expressed his distaste for Europe’s current political leadership, blaming it for being unable to tackle the refugee crisis or terrorist threats.

“Europe… is a regional player, who can’t protect its borders and citizens as well as keep the people together,” he said, accusing Europe’s political elite of “failing the test” and lambasting it for not reaching “any single of its goals.”

The recent spate of terrorist attacks in Germany illustrate that even one of the block’s driving forces, which is often regarded as its “fulcrum,” is just as vulnerable as the rest of the countries in the EU, according to Orban.

“And this means that even in that country there’s no absolute guarantee [of security] anymore.”

Orban directly links the growing number of terrorist attacks on European soil to the unresolved migration crisis.

“It is clear as two and two makes four; it is plain as day. There is an obvious connection,” he said last week following a meeting of the Visegrad Four group in Warsaw.

“If somebody denies this connection then, in fact, this person harms the safety of European citizens,” Orban stressed.

The Hungarian government is currently leading a media campaign aimed at raising awareness of negative consequences of accepting refugees and migrants. The campaign features a series of ads that start with a ‘Did you know?’ question and then give an answer providing various statistics – the number of women harassed since the refugee influx began, the number of people killed in terrorist attacks and so on.

‘Can’t welcome everyone’: Italy launches €1.5mn online project to deter migrants

Migrants sit in their rubber dinghy during a rescue operation by Italian navy ship Borsini (unseen) off the coast of Sicily, Italy. © Marina Militare / Reuters

The Italian government has launched a media campaign aimed at raising awareness of the dangers of violence and exploitation during migration, in an effort to keep potential refugees from sub-Saharan Africa from traveling to Italy and Europe in general.

“‘Migrant Aware’ is a message in a bottle we have thrown into cyberspace,” Italy’s interior minister, Angelino Alfano, told journalists at a presentation marking the start of the campaign, local media reported.

The project has been developed by the Italian Interior Ministry and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The €1.5 million (about US$1.65 million) campaign was launched on various platforms, including its own website, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram in July. It targets migrants in the 16-35 age group, who are considered to be more mobile and more likely to take the risk of the journey to Europe.

“Obviously we pride ourselves on welcoming all those fleeing war and don’t intend to stop them from coming,” Alfano said, according to The Local. “But we can’t welcome everybody.”

“Europe’s migrant crisis is an epochal struggle,” Alfano added. “This communication campaign is just one of the ways in which we are seeking to tackle the crisis.”

The website contains news articles and other stories of migrants who left their home countries in search of better lives, and shows videos and recordings of what resulted from their journeys. The interviewees talk about the perilous voyages they faced and the loss and suffering they went through while trying to cross the Sahara desert or the Mediterranean guided by people smugglers.

All the video materials open with a note saying “the story you are about to hear is true,” and end with statistics on migrant deaths in various regions and from various causes.

The information is available in three languages – English, French and Arabic – so that it can reach as many people as possible.

“It’s like betting on one’s own life,” says 36-year-old Tchamba from West Africa who, together with his wife and newborn, was forced to board a boat and cross the Mediterranean to Europe.

“I can’t’ advise any of my family or any of my friends… to come to this country. Because it is very risky. It seems like you want to die. The heat can make you crazy… The worst thing is no water. It is the line between life and death,” Leamy, 37, says as she shares what she saw and experienced in the Sahara desert.

The first-hand accounts are to be broadcast on local radio and television stations, and will appear on social media in 15 African countries, including the top three migrant suppliers to Italy – Nigeria, Eritrea and Sudan.

Renowned musician Rokia Traore, from Mali, will feature in the campaign with the song ‘Be aware brother, be aware sister’ which will also contribute to warning people about the hardships of the journey.

This year has seen an estimated number of 3,034 casualties among the migrants trying to reach Europe via the Mediterranean, according to the IOM’s latest data. This year’s figure significantly exceeds last year’s number of 1,917 deaths.

As of July 24, more than 300,000 migrants had entered Europe by sea since the beginning of 2016.

A recent report by 4mi, an affiliate of the Danish Refugee Council, provides interviews with around 1,300 migrants from the years 2014 to 2016 that give information on about 1,245 people who died during the first stage of their journey in the Sahara desert.

“The relatively small number of migrants interviewed ... suggests the 1,245 figure is a conservative estimate of those who actually perished,” the report concludes, according to Reuters.

French Muslims Attend Mass, Pray with Catholics over Priest's 'Barbaric' Murder

This is a good sign from Muslims in France even if only a couple hundred were involved. It clearly reveals that there are Muslims who genuinely want peace and some level of sanity in their world. What percentage they represent is the question, and are they ready to clean up Islam in France?

Hervé Lionnet•July 31, 2016

Iman Sami Salem (L) and Imam Mohammed ben Mohammed (R) stand during a mass in the church Santa Maria in trastevere in Rome on July 31, 2016 (AFP Photo/Tiziana Fabi)

Rouen (France) (AFP) - Muslims attended Catholic mass in churches around France on Sunday in solidarity and sorrow following the brutal jihadist murder of a priest, the latest in a string of attacks.

More than 100 Muslims were among the 2,000 faithful who packed the 11th-century Gothic cathedral of Rouen, near the Normandy town where two jihadi teenagers slit the throat of 85-year-old Father Jacques Hamel.


Mass at Rouen Cathedral 31 July 2016

"I thank you in the name of all Christians," Rouen Archbishop Dominique Lebrun told them. "In this way you are affirming that you reject death and violence in the name of God."



A few policemen and soldiers stood guard outside but did not conduct searches, seeking to reassure a jittery population after the second jihadist attack in less than a fortnight.

In the southern city of Nice, where a jihadist carried out a rampage in a truck on July 14, claiming 84 lives, local imam Otaman Aissaoui led a delegation of Muslims to a Catholic mass.

"Being united is a response to the act of horror and barbarism," Aissaoui said.

Notre Dame church in southwestern Bordeaux also welcomed a Muslim delegation, led by the city's top imam, Tareq Oubrou.

"It's an occasion to show (Muslims) that we do not confuse Islam with Islamism, Muslim with jihadist," said Reverend Jean Rouet.

Muslims were responding to a call by the French Muslim council CFCM to show "solidarity and compassion" over the priest's murder on Tuesday.

Said a woman wearing a beige headscarf who sat in a back pew at a church in central Paris: "I'm a practising Muslim and I came to share my sorrow and tell you that we are brothers and sisters."

Giving her name only as Sadia, she added softly: "What happened is beyond comprehension."

At the Saint Leger church in the northern city of Lens, around 30 Muslims attended mass wearing T-shirts emblazoned with messages such as, "Terrorism has no religion or identity".

Except 99% of all terrorists are Muslim.

Father Hubert Renard told the congregation: "We are not alone; our Muslim brothers are here too."

Many were moved to tears during the sign of peace, a regular part of the liturgy when the faithful turn to greet each other in the pews, either shaking hands or kissing.

Muslims also attended Catholic masses in Italy, notably at Rome's Santa Maria di Trastevere church, in response to a call by the Sant'Egidio community known for its international mediation efforts. Other joint services were held in Milan, Naples and Palermo, Sicily.

The killing of Father Hamel fanned fears of religious tensions in France and renewed recriminations over perceived security lapses.

Both of the 19-year-old attackers -- Adel Kermiche and Abdel Malik Petitjean -- had been on the intelligence services' radar and had tried to go to Syria.

- Jihadist's cousin charged -

Prime Minister Manuel Valls called Sunday for a new "pact" with the Muslim community in France, Europe's largest with around five million members.

Also Sunday, dozens of prominent Muslims published a joint letter pledging: "We, French and Muslim, are ready to assume our responsibilities."

I suggested a way to help motivate them to assume their responsibilities just this morning.

Meanwhile, Petitjean's 30-year-old cousin was charged with "criminal association in connection with terrorism", the Paris public prosecutor said.

The suspect, named as Farid K., "was fully aware of his cousin's imminent violent action, even if he did not know the precise place or day," the prosecutor said in an earlier statement.

Media reports say Petitjean and Kermiche met through the encrypted messaging app Telegram.

In a separate case Sunday, 20-year-old Jean-Philippe J. was charged with trying to travel to Syria with Petitjean last month.

The Video Every Christian and Muslim Must See

Muslim searches Quran for answers

and what he finds astonishes him

  Less than 6 minutes - could change your life.

Just to lay out some of the points he found in his careful exegesis of the Quran:

Mohammed is mentioned 4 times in Quran - Jesus is mentioned 25 times.

Then only woman talked about in the Quran is Miriam (Mary) the mother of Jesus. 

Mary is honoured with an entire chapter in the Quran.

The Quran says, incorrectly, that she was born without sin, was a virgin and remained so all her life.

Names found in the Quran for Jesus are: Jesus Christ, Word of God, Spirit of God.

Jesus is credited with speaking at two days old and making a bird out of clay and giving it life. (These fanciful stories are found only in the Quran).

Jesus is credited with many healing miracles, even giving life to the dead.

Jesus is alive and living in Heaven, and He will return to earth one day as judge.

Mohammed was not born of a virgin, his mother is not named, he did not speak at two days, did not make a bird out of clay, did no miraculous healings, did not raise the dead, is dead himself, and will not return.

The Quran also says, If you still have questions, go and read the Bible.


So the question is: why do Muslims reverence the dead Mohammed and not Jesus who is alive and obviously far superior? 

France Closed 20 Mosques, Prayer Halls Since December

What a difference between France and Britain! In Britain radical Salafists seem to be free to preach whatever they want without fear of sanction. Surely Britain knows the lunacy inflicted on France and Germany will eventually arrive in the British Isles. But they will wait until such time before they even contemplate what to do about it.

As for France, there is a powerful way to combat terrorism that it just hasn't considered yet. See below.

French authorities have closed around 20 mosques and prayer halls considered to be preaching radical Islam since December, according to the country's interior minister. He went on to promise that “there will be others.”

"There is no place...in France for those who call for and incite hatred in prayer halls or in mosques, and who don't respect certain republican principles, notably equality between men and women," Bernard Cazeneuve said following a meeting with leaders of the French Council of the Muslim Religion on Monday, as quoted by AFP.

"That is why I took the decision a few months ago to close mosques through the state of emergency, legal measures or administrative measures. About 20 mosques have been closed, and there will be others,” he continued.

Cazeneuve went on to state that 80 people have been expelled from France since 2012, and that dozens more deportations are on the way, without providing further details.

There are some 2,500 mosques and prayer halls in France. Of those, around 120 are considered to be preaching radical Salafism, a strict Sunni interpretation of Islam.

It comes after recent terrorist attacks in the country have raised questions about security failures, as well as the foreign funding of many mosques.

Speaking about such funding concerns, Cazeneuve said that authorities are working on a French foundation for Islam which would guarantee complete transparency in financing mosques “with rigorous respect for secular principles.”

Also on Monday, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said it will be “increasingly hard” for Paris to guarantee the freedom of Islam, noting that despite the country's ties to the religion, a “terrible poison” of extremism is spreading. 

“If Islam is not helping the Republic to fight against those who undermine public freedoms, it will be increasingly hard for the Republic to guarantee this freedom of worship,” Valls wrote in a long essay in Le Journal du Dimanche.

There are plans to create a foundation to help finance the construction and administration of mosques across France, Anouar Kbibech, the head of the French Muslim Council, said on Monday.

"Radical" benefactors would be denied access to the organization, which will be sponsored by companies in the halal food sector, Kbibech stressed.

Because there are no radicals in the halal food sector, right? Transparency of funding is a good thing but can easily be circumvented, so it will actually make no real difference. What France needs to do is to put some responsibility back onto the Muslims for stopping the terrorism. The way they do that is to refuse all permits for mosques and prayer centres until one or two years after the last terrorist attack in France. Then, stop all construction on mosques and prayer halls if and when there is another attack, and suspend it for one or two years.

Does Valls have the guts to do that? I think he does; he just hasn't thought of it yet. I'll bet Marine Le Pen has.

Cazeneuve's statements come less than one week after a French priest was murdered in an attack by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) “soldiers” in the Normandy village of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray.