11-Year-Old Girl From Yemen Flees Arranged Marriage, Posts YouTube Video Telling Her Story

From Global News Canada:

A video posted on LiveLeak and YouTube on Sunday tells the story of an 11-year-old girl from Yemen called Nada Al-Ahdal.

Looking right into the camera, Nada says her parents tried to force her into an arranged marriage but she fled to her uncle’s house, who works as a graphic artist for a local TV station.

She talks about how in Yemen it is common for kids to commit suicide if they are forced into marriage, and how some children’s lives are stolen from them.

Nada is now waiting in hopes that journalists, human-rights activists and different local organizations will help her make a strong case against her parents who are trying to get her back so they can go on with the marriage process.

Yemeni law states that girls of any age are allowed to wed, and according to the United Nations, Yemen has the second youngest population in the world as there are so many young brides.

Nada’s video has now been viewed more than two million times on YouTube.

(via RDnet)

Calls for Separation of Religion and State in Lebanon

Aired April 24, 2010 on LBC TV (Lebanon) - Transcript

British Islamist Anjem Choudary: Freedom and Democracy Are Idols That Must Be Destroyed and Replaced with Obedience to Allah

February 3, 2010 on Press TV
From Transcript:

Anjem Choudary: You know, I don't believe in the concept of freedom of expression. I don't believe in democracy. I don't believe in secularism or liberalism. I believe these are idols that the people are worshipping nowadays, taking them away from worshipping our lord, Allah. I believe that sovereignty and supremacy belongs to God, but I will function within the realms of their so-called "freedom," to expose their own fallacies.
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(via Sam Harris: There is no "clash of civilizations"? Okay, what's this?)

Muslim Cleric on Wife Beating in the Early Days of Islam

Aired January 7, 2010 on Al-Nas TV (Satellite) - Transcript

Child Preacher Delivers a Speech on Children's Love of Martyrdom on Egyptian TV

February 5, 2010 on Al-Rahma TV - Transcript

Toddler Forced to Recite Koran

Aired January 1, 2010 on Al-Nas TV

Egyptian Man Brings 3-Year-Old Daughter to Tears, Forcing Her to Demonstrate Her Koran-Reciting Skills Live on TV

Sudanese Journalist: Tens of Thousands of Women Arrested Because of Their Clothing

Aired December 17, 2009 on Al-Mihwar TV (Egypt)

Lubna Al-Hussein, Sudanese Journalist Sentenced to Lashing for Wearing Pants: There Were Dozens of Thousands of Women Like Me.

Muslim Cleric Challenges Darwin: We Are Descendants of Human Beings, Jews Are Brothers of Apes and Pigs

December 6, 2009 on Al-Aqsa TV
Transcript:

Abd Al-Majid Al-Zindani: Against the backdrop of this campaign, Darwin's evolutionists began to rely on illusions, which they present as evidence. They said: "Look! Your body has vestigial organs that you inherited from your ancestors, the apes." God help us! Our ancestors were not apes. Their ancestors may have been apes, but ours were human beings. [...]

[The Darwinists] say: "Look at this creature. We found it in a lower stratum, and we found this more developed [creature] in a higher stratum." Okay, let's say people come after us, and find archeological remains of a handcart. Then they find bicycle in the stratum above it. Then, in the stratum above that, they find a motorbike, and in the stratum above that, they find a car. "Aha! We have discovered how the car developed and where it came from. The car used to be a handcart. Then there were natural developments and bla bla... and it turned into a bicycle, and there were other conditions, and it turned into a motorbike and from a motorbike, it turned into a car. Look how it developed." Can anybody accept such logic? If there was really such a sequence, it proves that this creature came after that one, but not that it developed from it. There is a difference between the two. [...]

We must not rule out the possibility that Darwin had hidden psychological feelings. Darwin was reviled just like the Jews, who are told: "You are the brothers of apes and pigs." Allah transformed the Israelites who rebelled against him into apes and pigs, and it has become a curse used against them. Perhaps Darwin was upset and wanted to say to people: "You are all apes and pigs. It's not just us." Therefore, we can see that this theory is not based on sound foundations, and does not have sufficient proof. So today, it is considered to be a theory which used to be prevalent, but which lost many of its supporters, who renounced it, and which has become like a past legend. [...]

What remains for us to say is that the principle in which they believe is the principle of coincidence. The whole business happened by coincidence. If you said that a book could be created by coincidence, nobody on the face of the earth would accept it. Moreover, an Islamic scholar said: "If we took a million apes with a million typewriters, and these million apes were to type for a million years would a poem by [Egyptian poet] Ahmed Shawqi accidentally be created?" What is this? This is something that science, reason, and truth cannot accept.

Muslim Cleric Shares a "Nice Story" About Tricking a Jew Into Becoming Muslim

Aired August 10, 2009 on Al-Nas TV (Egypt)
Transcript:

Mahmoud Al-Masri: My dear brothers, we want to repent, and we want to take by the hand those people who have not yet repented. We should feel pity for them. By Allah, we should not be tough with them. These people are sick. They are sinners. We should feel pity for them, we should care for them. We should act like doctors who care for the sick. You should care for them and feel great pity for them, and seek any ingenious way to make a person repent.

I’d like to tell you a very nice story. Once there was a Muslim who lived next to a Jew. The Muslim saw in the Jew a measure of goodheartedness – however small – and he wanted to find any way to make him convert to Islam. So he went to him and asked: “Don’t you feel the need for Islam? Why don’t you become a Muslim?” The Jew said: “The only thing preventing me from becoming a Muslim is that I love drinking alcohol. I would have become a Muslim ages ago, but the only thing stopping me is that I am an alcoholic.”

The Muslim devised a plan. He said: “No problem – become a Muslim, and continue to drink.” The Muslim didn’t meant this, of course, but he said to him: “Become a Muslim, and continue to drink.” The Jews said: “Fine.” He said: “I proclaim that there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.” The Muslim said to him: “Now you have become a Muslim. If you drink alcohol, we will carry out the punishment for drinking alcohol on you, and if you renounce Islam, we will kill you.” So the man remained a Muslim and never drank alcohol again. This was a nice trick by this good Muslim.

(via Doctor E)

"Moral Beauty" Pageant Held in Saudi Arabia

August 2, 2009 on Al-Arabiya TV

TV Debates on Bahais and Freedom of Religion in Egypt

Aired on Egypt's Dream 2 TV (2006-2008)
From transcript:

Presenter: We have with us the MP who demanded that Bahais be killed, Sheik Maher 'Aql. Welcome, Sheik Maher.

Sheik Maher 'Aql: Hello.

Presenter: Still determined about killing the Bahais?

Sheik Maher 'Aql: Allah willing.

[...]

Islamist lawyer Ahmad Dhiya Al-Din: It is just like in the case of bird flu. Then, the solution was a thorough one – the birds were taken and put to death. We do not kill human beings.
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Lebanese Shiite Scholar Calls for Separation of Religion and State

Aired June 29, 2009 on Murr TV (Lebanon)
Partial Transcript:

Muhammad Hassan Al-Amin: Of course. The separation of religion and state goes without saying.

[...]

Religion and state are two different things. There cannot be such a thing as a religious state. A state is civil in essence, and therefore, a religious state is used by one group to facilitate [the establishment of] dictatorship and despotism. Religion must be separated from the state, and all the things that are presented as the absolute truth – that Islam constitutes both religion and state – have no foundation in Islamic thought or law. Islam is a religion. That's it. No more and no less. And the state is a state. A state is a man-made entity, which is chosen by the people and represents them, whereas religion is sacred. How can you incorporate the sacred into a worldly matter, about which people have different opinions?

[...]

A religious scholar who heads a political party is biased toward that party. When we have disagreements with him about this political party, we should be able to debate and disagree with him... With regard to political issues.

Full transcript on YouTube

Egyptian Philosopher: Secularism is a Cultural Necessity

Aired June 22, 2009 on ON TV (Egypt)
From Transcript:

Interviewer: You have said that the term "secularism" is taboo among the Arabs.

Murad Wahba: Any person who says he is secular they either slaughter him or accuse him of apostasy. This happened to Sheik 'Ali Abd Al-Razeq in 1925, to Taha Hussein in 1926, to Naguib Mahfouz, and to Farag Fouda, who they killed. Nevertheless, I feel secularism is a cultural necessity. I call for secularism now, and we have held four conferences about it, which were peaceful, except for some minor threats.

Interviewer: You recently said that fundamentalism has led Egypt to sterility.

Murad Wahba: The most important thing in fundamentalism is adherence to the literal religious text, rather than using the mind [to interpret] the text. In other words, it paralyzes the mind. The fundamentalists lead the paralyzing of the mind, which means the paralyzing of creativity and of thought, which leads to backwardness.

Liberal Saudi Writer Defends Secularism and Gets Abused by Callers

March 29, 2009 on LBC TV (Lebanon)

Saudi Cleric Teaches Children Why Muslims Should Hate Jews

January 10, 2009 on Al Jazeera TV

Saudi Society for the Defense of Women's Rights Launches Internet Campaign to Ban Child Marriage by Law

Muslim Cleric: Valentine's Day More Dangerous than AIDS, Ebola, and Cholera

February 6, 2009 on Al-Rahma TV (Egypt)

Saudi Cleric on Muslims in the West and the Collapse of Western Families

November 21, 2008 on Al-Jazeera TV - Transcript (Requires registration)

Saudi Cleric Sultan Al-Dugheilbi on the Religious Zeal of Drunk Muslims in the West and the Collapse of Western Families

Egyptian Cleric Hopes for Another Holocaust

Aired January 26, 2009 on Al-Rahma TV (Egypt) - Transcript
Warning: Very graphic content

Egyptian Cleric Amin Al-Ansari Justifies the Holocaust, Airs Footage, and Declares: "This Is What We Hope Will Happen But, Allah Willing, at the Hand of the Muslims"

Debate on Types of Marriage in the Arab World

October 27, 2008 on Abu Dhabi TV (UAE)

Saudi Cleric and Women's Rights Activist Clash over Types of Common-Law Marriage in the Arab World

Transcript