An example of Muslim intolerance, lack of rights, and religious fanaticism is in the following recent news clip copied from the “Times on Line” at http://www.timesonline.com.:

February 7, 2008:     A 37-year-old American businesswoman and married mother of three is seeking justice after she was thrown in jail by Saudi Arabia's religious police for sitting with a male colleague at a Starbucks coffee shop in Riyadh. Yara, who does not want her last name published for fear of retribution, was bruised and crying when she was freed from a day in prison after she was strip-searched, threatened and forced to sign false confessions by the Kingdom's “Mutaween” police,. Her story offers a rare first-hand glimpse of the discrimination faced by women living in Saudi Arabia. In her first interview with the foreign press, Yara told The Times that she would remain in Saudi Arabia to challenge its harsh enforcement of conservative Islam rather than return to America. “If I want to make a difference I have to stick around. If I leave they win. I can't just surrender to the terrorist acts of these people,” said Yara, who moved to Jeddah eight years ago with her husband, a prominent businessman. Her ordeal began with a routine visit to the new Riyadh offices of her finance company, where she is a managing partner. The electricity temporarily cut out, so Yara and her colleagues — who are all men — went to a nearby Starbucks to use its wireless internet. She sat in a curtained booth with her business partner in the café's “family” area, the only seats where men and women are allowed to mix. For Yara, it was a matter of convenience. But in Saudi Arabia, public contact between unrelated men and women is strictly prohibited. “Some men came up to us with very long beards and white dresses. They asked ‘why are you here together?'. I explained about the power being out in our office. They got very angry and told me what I was doing was a great sin,” recalled Yara, who wears an abaya and headscarf, like most Saudi women. The men were from Saudi Arabia's Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, a police force of several thousand men charged with enforcing dress codes, sex segregation and the observance of prayers. Yara, whose parents are Jordanian and grew up in Salt Lake City, once, believed that life in Saudi Arabia was becoming more liberal. But on Monday the religious police took her mobile phone, pushed her into a cab and drove her to Malaz prison in Riyadh. She was interrogated, strip-searched and forced to sign and fingerprint a series of confessions pleading guilty to her “crime”. “They took me into a filthy bathroom, full of water and dirt. They made me take off my clothes and squat and they threw my clothes in this slush and made me put them back on,” she said. Eventually she was taken before a judge. “He said 'You are sinful and you are going to burn in hell'. I told him I was sorry. I was very submissive. I had given up. I felt hopeless,” she said. Yara's husband, Hatim, used his political contacts in Jeddah to track her whereabouts. He was able to secure her release. “I was lucky. I met other women in that prison who don't have the connections I did,” she said. Her story has received rare coverage in Saudi Arabia, where the press has been sharply critical of the police. Yara was visited yesterday by officials from the American Embassy, who promised they would file a report. An embassy official told The Times that it was being treated as “an internal Saudi matter” and refused to comment on her case.
Tough justice: — Saudi Arabia’s Mutaween has 10,000 members in almost 500 offices    — Ahmad al-Bluwi, 50, died in custody in 2007 in the city of Tabuk after he invited a woman outside his immediate family into his car.  — In 2007 the victim of a gang rape was sentenced to 200 lashes and six years in jail for having been in an unrelated man’s car at the time. She was pardoned by King Abdullah, although he maintained the sentence had been fair.
An interesting web page I ran across recently at http://www.thinkandask.com/2006/041806-islam.html has the following article, a bit lengthy but good to read if you want to understand what Islam is all about, written by an Iranian born American:
Islam: A False Religion by Amil Imani:  If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. Islam in general, forbids lying. The Quran says, "Truly Allah guides not one who transgresses and lies." Surah 40:28.   In the Hadith, Mohammed was also quoted as saying, "Be honest because honesty leads to goodness, and goodness leads to Paradise. Beware of falsehood, because it leads to immorality, and immorality leads to Hell." However, this has not been the case in Islam. Islam is based on big lies and contradictions.
The biggest scam in Islam, especially Shiria Islam is perhaps the notion of "Taqqiyeh," an immoral tactic to lie for a good cause and later retract your words (the belief that the end justifies the means.) Islam is all about schemes, war, and violence. Prophet Mohammed was an extremely violent man, a man of war. Historically, Jesus set the example for love, as did Moses. The opposite is true of Prophet Muhammad. That is why we see so many suicide bombers in our era. They simply are following what the prophet of Islam had planned for them. Islam rewards those who become martyrs with 72 virgins. So, sex is what the Arab Muslim murderers die for. It is all about sex. This must tell us a lot about the prophet’s own appetite for sex. He did not spare anyone; even 9-year-old girls were not immune to his sexual wrath. Worship a sex-maniac and a child molester? I think NOT.
Muslims are true victims of Islam. However, they fail to realize that Islam is a cult, and the prophet was a demon, possessed by a huge sexual appetite. Yes, true Muslims firmly believe, that those who die in the act of killing the infidels (Christians, Jews, and other non-believers) will not only gain entrance into heaven, but will be greeted by 72 virgin women -- most likely, all 9-year-old girls. Being politically correct has backed fired and the world seems to be taken hostage by the Islamic fanatics. The more politicians give in and declare Islam as a peaceful religion, the more they give the Muslim fanatics impetus to harass and intimidate people of the host countries where they have been given shelter to live.
Galileo said, "I do not think it is necessary to believe that the same God who has given us our senses, reason, and intelligence wished us to abandon their use, giving us by some other means the information that we could gain through them." The statement above was true at the time, and it is so true today. God has bestowed upon humans many different senses, including intelligence so that we use them for a better life. The senses he has given us should lead us to enlightenment and prosperity, not the other way around. Is it possible that the almighty has given these treasures to only a few people and abandoned the rest of his creatures in bewilderment? Intelligence is discerning between true and false or the real and illusory. Islam ultimately defines the real nature of intelligence as coming to realize the absolute nature of Allah and the relativity of all else that is other than He. The Quran calls those who have gone astray from religion as those who cannot think, 'la ya'quilun', those who cannot use their intelligence correctly. It is true that all religions are founded on fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of death. However, throughout the years, many of the world religions were able to find ways to reform themselves, but NOT Islam. Islam prides itself on having remained unchanged. The Islamic Revolution in Iran presents a clear image of Islam. We do not need to go back to 1,400 years ago and see what the prophet of Islam did. We can see a total replica in the words of his disciples, Ayatollah Khomeini, and the newly selected president of Iran, Mr. Ahmadinejad. That is how Islam advanced rapidly around the world, with terror and fear.
Quran says; kill, imprison! Why are you only clinging to the part that talks about mercy? Mercy is against God. Mehrab means the place of war, the place of fighting. Out of the mehrabs, wars should proceed, just as all the wars of Islam used to proceed out of the mehrabs. The prophet has [had] sword to kill people. Our [Holy] Imams were quite military men. All of them were warriors. They used to wield swords; they used to kill people. We need a Khalifa who would chop hands, cut throat, stone people. "In the same way that the messenger of God used to chop hands, cut throats, and stone people; in the same way that he massacred the Jews of Bani Qurayza, because they were a bunch of discontented people. If the Prophet used to order to burn a house or exterminate a tribe, that was justice," said Ayatollah Khomeini.
Many Islamic scholars vow that Islam is a religion of logic, wisdom, moderation, and peace. They vow that Islam invites people towards insight and knowledge and uplifts the position of women in society. This is far from the truth. Islam cannot stand what is logical and it does not invite people towards insight, but entraps humans with a deadly poison. Once one becomes Muslim, there is no way out.   Islam is about forcing women to wear the "hejab" the symbol of backwardness, stupidity, and fanaticism. Women are second class citizens in the Muslim world. The prophet Muhammad takes his 9-year-old wife to bed. What kind of man, not to mention a prophet of God, would commit such horrible act of pedophilia? The Quran says women are to be beaten by their husbands, yet Muslim women apparently are fine with this violence, or they could not wait to divorce Islam and run away. Quran says four wives are allowed, but Muhammad had at least 20 or even more. They say, in paradise, women are chained in different areas for men's pleasure. Islam definitely is not compatible with logic and democracy. As a matter of fact, Islam is against liberty and freedom. The problem with the Islamic scholars is that they are in denial that the genie is out and now it is way too late to put it back in the bottle.
Khoshroo Gholamali, Deputy Minister for International and Legal Affairs of the Islamic Republic at the Munich Conference on Security Policy said, "Islam’s prime objective is to strike a balance between Islamic tenants and democratic mechanisms. The extremists have manipulated, misconstrued, and tried to hijack Muslim tenants."  What Mr. Gholamali said in the conference is misleading and untrue. What Mr. Gholamali did not talk about was the achievements of the Islamic republic for the past 27 years as a model country for the Muslim world. He did not mention about the Islamic executions, floggings, stoning, and amputations of limbs in public since this peaceful religion invaded Iran.   He did not speak about the promotion of international and domestic terrorism through Islamic jihad, the creation of the Hezbollah who have conducted many terrorist attacks against innocent people and the promotion of Islamic fundamentalism. He did not say this moderate religion has oppressed the religious minorities in Iran and made them to flee their country. He did not mention how savagely the Islamists in Iran have raped innocent girls before executing them because Islam forbids executing virgins, so raping them was very Islamic. Yes, Islam is very democratic, but only for the Islamic terrorists.
Javid Amir in his article "Views of a Muslim-American" wrote, "It must be understood that it is a mistake to imagine that Islam is an inherently violent and fanatical faith. Islam is a universal religion and there is nothing extremist, monolithic and anti-western about it. Doctrinally, Islam is as blameless as other of the great Universal religions." But, Mr. Amir, Islam 'is' an inherently violent and fanatical faith. It is all written in the holy book of Quran. So, please stop lying to the population and face the facts. The problem with Islam lies not only in the holy book, but it lies in the life of the prophet himself. Muslims incessantly proclaim that the mainstream schools of thought misinterpret the holy book of Quran, yet they fail to recognize that the prophet of Allah lived such an unholy life himself and it is due to his narcissistic life and personality that his followers savagely follow his behavior.
It is due to Muhammad’s way of life that Muslims act barbaric and run amok and burn cars and Embassies each time someone draws a picture of the holy prophet. Behaviorally, the prophet of Allah hallmarks a cult. In other words, we cannot compare Islam to other religions because due to the prophets narcissistic manners, Islam falls in the category of a cult, not a religion. Yes, Islam is a cult founded by an Arab man from Mecca in Arabia, by the name of Mohammed, who lived from 570-632 A.D. A huge problem is that cults are incredibly difficult to dismantle intellectually. The brainwashing is grandiose.
Indeed, the Prophet of Islam’s deeds and words, Islamic Law and its interpretation, has always been totally intolerant and the Prophet practiced an unholy life. According to Muslims, the prophet of Islam was Khataman Nabiyyeen (the last prophet) and Allah will no longer send prophets. Well, if God chose a man like Muhammad who butchered, raped, terrorized, massacred, and killed so many innocent people with the sword of Islam as his messenger, then we are dealing with a terrorist God at the top. Until we come to terms with these issues and end what is a contagious disease, many innocent people will continue to die. The very survival of the civilized world is dependent upon our understanding that Islam is mankind’s greatest enemy.
Amil Imani is an Iranian born, pro democracy activist who resides in the United States of America. Imani is a poet, writer, literary translator, novelist and an essayist who has been writing and speaking out for the struggling people of his native land, Iran.

Also interesting reading:
Bin Laden's Manifesto For Americans
By L. John VanTil, Ph.D (08/05/04)

American leaders, including United States Senators, who are supposed to be knowledgeable about foreign affairs, need to be more candid with the American public about Islamic terrorist’s goals and aspirations. The plain fact is that Islamic terrorists are out to destroy Americans and their civilization. And how do we know this? Osama Bin Laden himself tells us this in his 1996 Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places, printed for everyone to read at www.mideastweb.org/osamabinladen1.htm.

Comments on Islamic goals are not clearly stated by leaders whether Democrat or Republican. But Osama is clear in what he says and has in mind. He and his followers are at war; a special kind of war, one whose aim is to kill all the infidels (Americans) and their allies, the Jews are always mentioned as allies.

How did Osama, a Yemeni-born, Arabian-nurtured, Muslim come to see this war as his religious duty? Why does he want to kill all Americans?

His principal motivation is two fold. First, he is deeply disturbed by the fact that 80 years ago the last great remnant of Islamic power was defeated when the Ottoman Empire fell in 1918 and its capitol, Constantinople, was occupied by European infidel Christians. Americans chuckle, of course, at this reliance on what to them is an obscure historical incident as a motivation for declaring war. Unlike Americans, history is extremely important to Muslims because it is the record of Allah dealing with men; all Muslims therefore, are well versed in their history. To state it succinctly, Osama is still peeved about the decline of Islamic civilization, once the worlds greatest. Stated yet another way, he is deeply disturbed by this very bad turn in Islamic history and hopes by his holy war to correct it.

His second motivation for a declaration of war against the United States arises from the fact that since the 1930s Saudi leaders have allowed foreigners into the interior of the holy land, including Americans. For centuries only the faithful were allowed into the region, Hijaz, which contained the two holy cities of Islamic Mecca and Medina. Until about 1930 visitors, including diplomats, were not allowed in at all, not even to the political capitol Riyadh. They were restricted to the coastal city of Jedda. Osama claims that this long-standing practice was sanctioned by the Prophet himself. Further, he claims that violations of this practice were a desecration of the Holy Land and called for a holy war against the foreigners, Americans in this case, and also punishment of the rulers who allowed the foreigners to come in. Thus, in Bin Laden’s view, the ruling Saudi family and Americans are targets of his wrath.

A variation on the second motivation also deserves mention. At one point in Islamic history the spiritual center of Islam, the home of the highest spiritual leader known as the Caliph, was moved to Bagdad, residing there for five hundred years. Thus, in Muslim minds, so deeply colored by historical affairs, Bagdad is the second most sacred city. Obviously, America’s invasion of Iraq in 1991 was another desecration of an Islamic holy site, another example of infidels insulting Muslims. This point, too, is often made by Bin Laden. No doubt, the second invasion of Iraq by Americans in 2003 made him apoplectic!
 

To sum up: Bin Laden is at war with the United States because it intruded into the holy land and later invaded sacred Iraq. These actions, condemned in the Quran he says, were sufficient cause for him to take up arms against the United States.

He also talks of another factor that Americans may want to ponder, American moral depravity. Islam teaches modesty and sexual purity for both women and men. That is not what Muslims see, as American culture. Western Europeans are not excused in this matter comes to them in movies, music, and over the internet. Providers and purveyors of these forms of debauchery are special targets of Bin Laden’s troops. Perhaps they will try to blow up Hollywood one of these days.
It does not help the American publics understanding of Bin Laden’s motives and goals when American leaders refuse to state that his cause in his eyes is a Holy War. More candors by leaders, such as Bush and Kerry, would help Americans to appreciate more fully what they face in the years ahead. To grasp the gravity of Bin Laden’s challenge to America, do consult the aforementioned web site. And, hope that your leaders in Washington do the same.

L. John VanTil, Ph.D. is a professor of humanities at Grove City College. He is the author of the book "Liberty of Conscience: The History of a Puritan Idea." He is currently editing the papers of Calvin Coolidge.