Study: Islamic extremists using rhetoric of victimization, not world domination

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Islamist extremists make heavy use of the Qur’an (Islam’s most sacred text) in their strategic communication. This study analyzed the most frequently cited or quoted verses in the Center for Strategic Communication’s database of over 2,000 extremist texts. The texts date from the years 1998 to 2011, and originate primarily from the Middle…

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NY Times OpED: The Freedom of the Hijab

It’s been over two months since I decided to become a hijabi — one who wears a head scarf and adheres to modest clothing — and before you race to label me the poster girl for oppressed womanhood everywhere, let me tell you as a woman (with a master’s degree in human rights, and a…

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Guantanamo prisoners charged in Sept. 11 attacks seek court recess on Fridays, during Ramadan

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Lawyers for five Guantanamo Bay prisoners charged in the Sept. 11 attacks are asking a military court to put their legal proceedings on hold during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The lawyers also ask that no court sessions be held on Fridays, when many devout Muslims seek not to…

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Chicagoan accused of plotting to be suicide bomber for al-Qaida, al-Shabab to plead guilty

CHICAGO — A 29-year-old Chicago man accused of plotting a suicide bombing overseas and claiming he was inspired by a radical Muslim cleric has agreed to change his plea to guilty, bringing to an end one of the last terrorism trials pending in the city’s federal court. A lawyer for Shaker Masri — whose plea…

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Former U.S. solider sues NYPD over Muslim surveillance

At 26, Syed Farhaj Hassan was a devout Muslim, and a man who took a lot of pride in being one of the relatively few Muslim Americans to join the military and then go to war in Iraq. Hassan signed on recently to be the lead plaintiff in the first lawsuit to challenge any portion…

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