Only a few days before the start of the school year, the debate on Islamic headscarves in schools will continue and this will be hardened by petitions to prohibit the burqa. But the discussions on these kinds of symbols could also get radicalized in the coming months, just as it seems that the traditional or fundamentalist versions of Islam sticklers are growing fast in Spain. A strange situation, the experts say, in contrast with the religious attitude and behavior that prevails among the urban middle classes in countries like Syria, Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan. This is the case of the Syrian president's wife, Asma al-Assad, who came to Spain in July. Perhaps impressed by the debonair and European looks of Asma, a woman who has modern looks, wears short dresses and trousers, swims and rides a bike, and seems the same as the president, a reporter asked if that that was normal in her country, which she replied to that it was "a mirror of Syrian society." 

Islam In Spain also differs. Judging from positions that we can read on Islamic groups' webs in Spain, the manner in which they responded to hijab or burqa bans or the attitudes of some imams, it doesn't seem that Asma al-Assad is the prototype of the female Muslim Spain. Even among Spanish converts (between 35,000 and 40,000 people practice a moderate Islam). "What is not clear," says Fernando Bravo, TEIM (International Mediterranean Studies Workshop) of the Autonomous University of Madrid, "is whether this apparent spread of a more traditional Islam, even a fundamentalist one, is due to an increase in religiosity or an attitude of claims arising from the feeling, stronger in Europe than in their countries, that their identity is threatened".

A group of Egyptian citizens have filed a complaint to the office of the attorney-general demanding the cancelation of a Salafi preacher’s television program after he issued a fatwa (a religious edict) on the sale of antiquities.

A Facebook group has been set up by those concerned on which they say that they have filed a complaint to attorney general Abdel Maguid Mahmoud to ban the live television program presented by Sheikh Mohamed Hassan.

Hassan, a prominent preacher, currently presents a program on the Salafi-affiliated al-Rahma channel. The program, which is aired live, features inquiries via phone calls and he answers them on the spot.

In response to a telephone call regarding Islam’s position on selling antiquities, Hassan said, “If it is found on land that you own, or in your house, then it is yours by right and you are not doing anything wrong.”

As for antiquities which are found on a public land, Hassan explained, a Muslim is prohibited from selling them, advising that he should re-bury them.

The people who filed the complaint argue that this fatwa means that all antiquities discovered on private land are the possessions of the owner of that land, and that he has the right to sell and profit from them. This contradicts the law, which punishes any private circulation of antiquities.

Source.

La Gaceta:

"The process started months ago with the arrival of former Islamist prisoners of Guantanamo Bay. But we must add to that, the continued rise of Salafism as a doctrine which is gaining in significance throughout the Spanish geography. Moreover, the threat is seriously affected by the release of jihadist prisoners, not just those who have served time in Spain, but of those who are acquitted following their arrest for acts related to jihadist activity, "says a report by the responsible for fighting terrorism.

Those acquitted by the High Court the report refers to are Spanish national Gonzalo López Royo (aka "salaam1420", above) and Morocccan Fath Allah Sadaqa, arrested by the Guardia Civil after finding that these two men ennobled Islamic jihad over the Internet. The Third Division of the High Court, presided by Judge Alfonso Guevara and speaker Gregorio Ruiz Polanco, recognized as a fact that "the statements made by the two defendants were intended as a tribute to a Chechen guerrilla militant, devoting their website to all Muslims who die and suffer at the hands of the infidels, the desire to transform Spain again in Caliphate (and) their call for jihad and martyrdom (...) The accused Fath Allah Sadaqa uploaded to Youtube two videos, one with reference to three leaders of Al Qaeda, and another image of an attack against a U.S. vehicle in Iraq. "
The resolution of last June 21st, resolved to acquit both accused of "the crime of praising terrorism and contempt for the victims of terrorism with all the inherent favorable pronouncements such absolution has" . 

Raising a center of worship in a place away from the city center can give wings to the fanatics. "A community can sometimes accept a self-exclusion principle to pass unnoticed. But it can also accept the will to hide or not to attract attention," says sociologist expert in the Islamic world Jordi Moreras, who points out that industrial sites can give shelter to militants. "The Salafi-inspired communities [they defend the purity of Islam] are supporting openly the relocation on this sites because they want discretion", he says.

A judicial report released on Monday warned of the danger of "segregation" which involves placing a mosque in the suburbs, referring to the intention to raise one in an industrial area of Lleida.

In Catalonia, between 15 and 20 places of worship of the approximately 200 existing sites are located on industrial areas, according to researcher Mr. Moreras.An investigation by the Catalan police in June warned of the spread of radical Salafi mosques through small mosques located throughout Tarragona. Of those five places of worship which cultivate a fanatical religious side, four are located in industrial estates: Tarragona, Reus Roda de Barà Torredembarra. Only the mosque in Valls is located in the center of the city.

Muslims are protesting against the mosque closure... passengers and shoopers in the market where they held their "prayer" sessions, are not comfortable with them as they follow students and young people to convert them. Of course, they insist they are peaceful but German police doesn't agree. The reason why the mosque was closed is the extremist version of Islam they are preaching: support for the stoning of adulterers and the killing of apostates and opposition to gender equality, so some women are wearing burqas or niqabs.