Thirty years on, why ‘The Satanic Verses’ remains so controversial
The ConversationThree decades after its initial publication, Sir Salman Rushdie’s challenge to Islam continues to polarize opinions.
Read More
Swiss canton becomes second to ban burqas in public
ReutersVoters in St. Gallen voted by a two-thirds majority to ban full face coverings like the burqa and niqab. Denmark and France have approved similar bans, as has one other Swiss canton.
Read More
Own up to mass Muslim detentions, Amnesty tells China
AFPAn Amnesty International report has called on China to address “an intensifying government campaign of mass internment, intrusive surveillance, political indoctrination and forced cultural assimilation” against Muslims.
Read More
Trump travel ban: Waiver process remains long, unclear
Al JazeeraCase by case waivers are now available for some of those affected by the Trump Administration’s travel ban, but the process remains complex, unreliable and lengthy, to the extent that one American woman and her husband are considering returning to his home in Syria.
Read More
Those Motherf**kers Are Dead Meat’: Far-Right Militia Threatens Muslims on Leaked Audio
The Daily BeastAudio leaked from chats used by far right militia groups reveals their plans to attack Muslims attending the Islamic Society of North America national convention in Houston earlier this month.
Read More
Memo to Bodyguard writers: Muslim women are more than victims or terrorists
The GuardianSpoiler alert! The BBC series Bodyguard fails to break the exhausting stereotypes of Muslims in popular TV and movies.
Read More
The Bodyguard's female Muslim bomber character stirs debate
Al JazeeraThe Bodyguard’s perpetuation of negative stereotypes has real life implications, and the resulting call for characters of greater depth and diversity must be heeded.
Read More
Maldives marine artwork destroyed for being a 'threat to Islamic unity'
The GuardianA new coral sculpture by artist and environmentalist Jason deCaires Taylor has been demolished after a court in the Maldives ruled that its depictions of human forms were un-Islamic.
Read More
Iran's rich, influential religious singers eclipse clerics
Al MonitorThe fees demanded by singers eulogizing Imam Hussein during Muharram have started to rival those of pop stars.
Read More
Amnesty demands answers on China internment of Uighurs
Al JazeeraIn a report on China’s “vicious campaign” of “systematic repression” against Uighurs in China, Amnesty International has revealed details about the extent and nature of the separation and torture Muslim families are experiencing.
Read More
Turkey arrests 61 soldiers over alleged Gulen links: state media
Al JazeeraTurkey’s state run media organization has announced the arrest of sixty-one soldiers, at least forty-nine of whom are officers, for alleged links to Fethullah Gülen, the US-based preacher who is blamed for the failed 2016 coup. Twenty-one teachers were also detained for using an encrypted messaging application.
Read More
Saudi Arabia opens high-speed train linking Islam's holiest cities
ReutersOperation of Saudi Arabia’s new high speed rail link between Jeddah and the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina is set to begin next week. The multibillion-dollar transportation project is one of the biggest in the Middle East and hopes to serve almost sixty million pilgrims annually.
Read More
In Nigeria, fears that a crackdown on Muslim group will court another Boko Haram
Religion News ServiceAuthorities in Nigeria fear that increasingly harsh measures used against the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, including allegedly imprisoning and killing the group’s leaders without due process, may transform the revolutionary Shi’ite organization into another Boko Haram.
Read More
Popular Egyptian preacher silenced following spat with TV personality
Middle East EyeDespite expressing support for President Sisi, defending the Rabaa massacre and condemning the Brotherhood, going off script in a government-provided sermon to insult TV personality Mohammed al-Baz has cost Salafist cleric Mohamed Raslan his license to preach.
Read More
Powerful Shiite trio agrees on Iraqi prime minister candidate
Al MonitorNegotiations between Haider al-Amiri’s Fatah Alliance, the Sairoon Alliance led by Ayatollah Mutada al-Sadr, and Hezbollah have resulted in the emergence of former Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi as the consensus candidate to be Iraq’s new Prime minister.
Read More
Muslims in Europe facing 'hostility in everyday life', Islamophobia study finds
Middle East EyeA new study conducted in eight EU countries finds that Muslims are facing a “worsening environment of Islamophobia” and has designed a toolkit to address the problem across the continent.
Read More
Italy's Muslims uneasy after election of far-right government
Al JazeeraMuslims make up Italy’s largest religious minority, yet their religion is not officially recognized; now, the new Interior Minister has said Islam is incompatible with the constitution and threatened to shut down the country’s few mosques.
Read More
The 10 counter-narratives needed to beat Islamophobia in Europe
Middle East EyeThe launch of a ‘Counter-Islamophobia Toolkit’ provides hope at a time when racism is on the rise in many parts of Europe.
Read More
Family fears UAE will deport Uighur to China
Al JazeeraA Uighur man who studied Arabic and Islamic studies in Cairo and was working as a muezzin in Sharjah was arrested by Emirati police after Asr prayers on Thursday and his family fears he will be deported to China.
Read More
Danish police investigate officer who hugged niqab-wearing protester
ReutersA Copenhagen policewoman is being investigated for embracing a niqab-wearing protestor during a demonstration against a ban on face veils, the force’s complaints body said on Wednesday.
Read More
A Miss France with a hijab? Not a chance!
Middle East EyeIn the wake of Sara Iftekhar’s success in the Miss England beauty pageant, attitudes toward the hijab could not be more different across the channel.
Read More
The Latest Attack on Islam: It’s Not a Religion
The New York TimesLawyer and religious liberty expert Asma T. Uddin points to the dangers of an increasingly mainstream view among American conservatives that Islam is not a religion and should not be protected by the First Amendment.
Read More
Indonesia blasphemy woman endures cramped cell, bad food
AP
Human Rights Watch says a Chinese woman jailed in Jakarta for complaining about the noise from a mosque shares a cell with sixteen women and the provided food is “terrible”.
Read More
Is the fashion world having a modest moment - or cashing in on Muslim women?
Middle East EyeWith expenditures on Muslim fashion set to reach $484 billion next year, bloggers and influencers are questioning the industry’s embrace of modesty.
Read More
China’s Muslim Detention Camps Spark Protests in Islamic World
The Wall Street JournalPakistan’s criticism of China’s detention of Uighur Muslims was started by men with personal connections to imprisoned women and children and could trigger a much wider backlash.
Read More
Pakistan's Ahmadi's fearful as leaders bow to extremists
AP
Conservative “firebrand” clerics in Pakistan are gaining popular support and allies among the major political parties, adding to the pressure on the country’s embattled Ahmadi minority.
Read More
Free speech firebrand Tommy Robinson's contentious views on Islam spreading beyond U.K.
CBCYouTube and Twitter are allowing Tommy Robinson’s campaign against Islam in the UK to go international; his supporters include Steve Bannon and Donald Trump Jr.
Read More
Rival rallies as Erdogan opens mega mosque in Cologne
AFPThe President of Turkey concluded a three day state visit to Germany on Saturday by opening one of Europe’s largest mosques in Cologne; crowds of both protesters and well-wishers were there to meet him.
Read More