Women of faith are uniquely positioned to help curb extremism and violence in the name of religion, according to a new report from Catholic Aid agency Progressio published yesterday. The report, 'Faithful Peace, peaceful faith', by Jane McGrory, promotes female faith-based community leaders as strategic actors in transforming the unjust structures and gender relations that often accompany armed conflict:

"Women of faith tend to represent religion's 'human' face and to maintain a distance from its power politics. From this position, they have great potential to enhance the contribution of religion to peace, and to mitigate its role in violent conflict."

A leading British playwright has accused Nicholas Hytner, the National Theatre's creative director, of being unwilling to put on plays critical of Islam.

Speaking in this month's Standpoint magazine, Simon Gray said "I can't imagine a play that's violently opposed to Islam. You can't be - publicy, so to speak, and certainly not at the National."

Today's decision in the High Court has given a 14 year old Sikh girl the right to wear a religious bangle in school. The judge found the girl’s school to be guilty of indirect discrimination as well as breaching race relations and equality laws. The judge further rejected claims made by the school that the bangle could be seen as a ‘symbol of affluence’ stating:

"In this case there is very clear evidence it was not a piece of jewellery but to Sarika was, and remains, one of the defining focal symbols of being a Sikh."

The Centre for Social Cohesion's latest report, 'Islam on Campus: A survey of UK student opinion', was published this morning.

The full report is available online here.

An executive summary is available here.

The Home Office yesterday announced a series of important measures aimed at tackling forced marriage. The measures include:

- The age limit for spouses brought to the UK from overseas has been raised from 18 to 21.
- Before being granted a marriage visa, foreign spouses must promise to learn English.
- British women going abroad to be married have to register their intention before leaving the UK and name their prospective partner.

A story that is disturbing for a chain of reasons has just come out from our national broadcaster. On the BBC's website yesterday, headlined 'Muslim concern at stop and search' the site leads with the news that:

'Muslims in Scotland have expressed unease about the use of "stop and search" procedures at Glasgow Airport.'

In any season this is a story likely to spread irritation among the British public.

But on reading through it emerges that the 'Muslims' expressing 'unease' at being searched at Glasgow airport are actually the Scottish Islamic Foundation (SIF). Readers might remember that this group was exposed last month, prior to its launch, as a Muslim Brotherhood-linked organisation whose members are, as lecturer in Divinity at Glasgow University Amanullah de Sondy put it, likely to:

Plans to allow some private Muslim and Christian schools to set up a joint inspection body have been abandoned by the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls.

The proposal, allowing for an independent body to check 60 Muslim schools and 50 Christian schools instead of the official schools inspectorate Ofsted, was approved by the government in January this year.

In the furore over the 42 day debate, an interesting sub-plot involving Lord Ahmed and Khurshid Ahmed, chair of the British Muslim Forum, has gone virtually unnoticed.

Khurshid Ahmed has previously voiced his support for the government's 42 day without detention bill. However, speaking in the House of Lords, Lord Ahmed accused the BMF chair of saying quite the opposite in an Urdu language interview he gave to the Daily Jang.

Contemporary Iranian philosopher, theologian and Shia secularist, Mohammad Shabestari states that it is 'incomprehensible' for Islam to be construed as a political agenda.

He says 'In my opinion, Islam is a religion in every sense, not a political agenda... as a religion it can also provide inspiration for the creation of a fair and democratic state.'

Demos, the left-wing thinktank, has sought to defend its decision to co-sponsor IslamExpo, last weekend's event in Olympia which was dominated by members and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Writing on the blog Harry's Place, Peter Harrington, communications manager and researcher at Demos, rejected comparisons between the BNP and the Muslim Brotherhood, arguing that Demos was seeking to "force the conversation" and seeking to begin "difficult debates" about the nature of Islamic extremism.

The Scottish government has given £215,000 to the "Scottish Islamic Foundation", a new group set up by Osama Saeed, a former spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), the British wing of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Scotland On Sunday reported yesterday that the group has received £200,000 to hold "Islamfest", an Islamic event in Glasgow, along with an additional £10,152 for computers and office equipment and £5,600 for administration and training.

Some months ago I was invited to speak at Islam Expo. I agreed despite being fully aware of the nature of the event and the uneven make-up of the debate that the organisers wanted me to take part in.

But the fact that one of the people behind the event is now trying to sue the blog Harry's Place persuaded me, as it has Martin Bright, political editor of the New Statesman, to withdraw from the event. The government minister Stephen Timms has now followed suit.

Apologies to anyone who was hoping to come to hear me. Beneath I am pasting-in the letter I wrote to the organisers of Islam Expo last night explaining my reasons for pulling out:

Dear -

Further to my previous emails I have learned that one of the key figures in Islam Expo is in the process of suing the highly admirable blog Harry's Place.

The recent release of an online collection of songs by female Muslim rappers and poets form the US, UK and Europe has provoked debate about the role - and rights - of Muslim women in British society.

The album, Sisterhood, was produced by Norwegian artist Deeyah, also known as "the Muslim Madonna", who is now lives in the US under 24 hour protection. Deeyah received death threats after the video for her single "Plan of My Own" featured the singer showing her back and dancing seductively with a man.

Sarfraz Sarwar, a Muslim leader in Basildon who was featured in Peter Oborne's Channel 4 documentary on 'Islamophobia' in Britain, has told an Essex newspaper that he wants to see Sharia law imposed in the UK and public floggings of criminals in town centres.

He told the Evening Echo in an article published on 7 July 2008: "If anybody is caught with a knife then give them ten lashes in the town centre ... Sharia law is not controversial. It's a deterrent. Muslim countries don't have half the problems we have because Sharia law is there."

The Centre and the Henry Jackson Society today co-hosted a lunch-time seminar for Walid Phares, director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington and leading academic in the field of global terrorist movements, democratization, human rights, and Middle Eastern history.

In a wide-ranging, extensive and thought-provoking discussion for opinion formers and leading counter terrorist experts, Phares spelt out his the nature of the future jihadist threat, as well as the most effective ways in combating this threat in order to make the world safe for free and democratic societies.

The Muslim Council of Britain has issued a press release welcoming Lord Phillips's recent comments on the possibility of introducting certain Sharia principles into British law.

Entitled 'Muslims want Equality before British Law', the press release praised the "Lord Chief Justice's valuable contribution to the discussion on the role of Islam and Muslims in Britain's legal traditions".

Hashia Khan, a Muslim councillor in Chorley, Lancashire, has told The Times she has been on the receiving end of threatening phone calls, verbal abuse and offensive graffiti by Muslim men in her ward who, according to Khan, "can't understand my mainstream views and those of 'live and let live' and how the British culture should be respected".

The campaign has been going on since 2005, when she put herself forward as a Labour candidate. Khan blamed the campaign on a small minority of men.

The Asian News has reported that Hizb ut-Tahrir, the radical Islamic group, is planning to hold a "rap contests, football tournaments and graffiti sessions" over the summer in order "to help Muslim youths empower themselves".

The paper says that the events will begin on 12 July and will take place "throughout the north west including Rochdale, Bolton, Accrington, Oldham, Manchester, Bradford, Halifax and Leeds."

Aamer Anwar, the lawyer representing a student convicted of terrorism offences, has been cleared of contempt of court for labelling the imprisonment of his client as "a tragedy for justice and for freedom of speech".

The trial judge referred these comments to senior colleagues, who cleared Mr Anwar of contempt but described the comment as "angry and petulant", saying that they "expected better" of solicitors.