[This is a roundup of news articles and other materials circulating about Islam and reflects a wide variety of opinions and approaches. It does not reflect the views of the Critical Currents in Islam page or of Jadaliyya. You may send your own recommendations for inclusion in each week`s roundup to cci@jadaliyya.com by Saturday night of every week.]
The objectification of refugees: We must not lose our humanity in search of a headline
Middle East EyeIn reporting from refugee camps, there is a fine line between raising awareness and treating war-scarred refugees as if they were performers in a circus freak show. Read More
The Travel Ban Shows What Happens When the Supreme Court Trusts Trump
The New York TimesA year ago, the Supreme Court upheld, by a 5-4 vote, President Trump’s imposition of a ban on travel from several predominantly Muslim countries. The court’s decision was gravely disappointing the day it was handed down. A year later, it looks even worse. Read More
The Tragedy of Egypt's Mohamed Morsi
The AtlanticMohamed Morsi was a deeply flawed but democratically elected president. His death shows how much his country has lost. Read More
Algeria's Hirak marches on in the face of official warnings
Al MonitorProtest movements in Algeria are ongoing, and proving resistant to efforts to hijack them to suit undemocratic agendas. Read More
Muslim Health Care for All
Foreign PolicyReligious communities in the United States are working independently and internally to provide free health care and overcome anti-immigrant sentiment. Read More
Australia repatriating 8 youth from Islamic State families
Associated PressEight children of two slain Islamic State group fighters had been removed from Syria in Australia’s first organized repatriation from the conflict zone, Australia’s prime minister said on Monday. Read More
Anti-Islamic extremist permanently excluded from entering UK
The GuardianA prominent anti-Islamic extremist whose organisation is being investigated in Austria over links to the Christchurch shooting suspect has apparently been permanently excluded from entering the UK. Read More
'Shame and humiliation': Aceh's Islamic law violates human rights
Al JazeeraAceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra, is one of Indonesia’s most religiously conservative areas, and is the only part of the archipelago to impose penalties on its residents under Islamic law. Punishments under shari'a are rooted in cultural traditions and few are willing to speak publicly against it. Read More
A School With No Heat or Computers but Many College-Bound Students. Mostly Girls.
The New York TimesIn a school in rural Afghanistan where there is no electricity, heat, working computers or copy machines and one teacher said she has fewer books than students, sixty of sixty-five graduates this year, many of whom have illiterate parents, are set to attend college next year. Read More
Morsi’s death in Egypt puts diminished Muslim Brotherhood back in spotlight
Los Angeles TimesThe dramatic courtroom collapse and death of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, has provided a stark reminder of how much his now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood movement has been reduced since the military abruptly removed him from office in 2013. Read More
Nearly half of Tory members would not want Muslim PM – poll
The GuardianThe poll, carried out by YouGov for the anti-racism group "Hope Not Hate," also found that more than two-thirds of Tory members believe the myth that parts of the UK are under shari'a law, and forty-five percent think some areas are not safe for non-Muslims. Read More
Operation Ayatollah Moneybags
Foreign PolicyWith tensions rising in the Persian Gulf, the Trump administration has ratcheted up its sanctions against Iran to an unprecedented level, intensifying an existing banking blockade. But the White House has also selected new targets, including by placing personal sanctions on the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Read More
Mohamed Morsi’s death and the West's hypocrisy
Middle East EyeConsumed by their own narrow interests, writes Professor Alain Gabon, Western leaders cannot be trusted to support genuine democracy in the Middle East. Read More
Protests in Indian cities after Muslim man beaten to death
Al JazeeraProtests were held in various parts of India on Wednesday following the lynching of a Muslim man, with people demanding an end to what they termed as “lynch terror.”
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India rejects critical US religious freedom report
Al JazeeraIndia has hit out at a report by the United States saying religious intolerance was growing under its right-wing government, setting off a new spat ahead of a visit by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Read More
The fight over Trump’s travel ban continues a year after Supreme Court ruling
The Columbus DispatchA year after the Supreme Court upheld President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting travel here from certain countries — widely criticized as a “Muslim ban”—activists are still fighting it in the courts and many families remain separated. Read More
UN rights chief: Relatives of ex-IS fighters should go home
Associated PressThousands of relatives of former foreign fighters in the Islamic State group should be repatriated, the U.N. human rights chief said Monday, insisting children, in particular, have suffered “grievous violations” of their rights — a challenge to European and other countries that have been reticent about taking back jihadis and their relatives. Read More
Trump's Muslim ban: US lawmakers vow to repeal 'hateful' order
Middle East EyeActivists and politicians joined forces this week to mark the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision upholding President Trump’s executive order banning immigrants from several Muslim majority countries from entering the US. Read More
How a Fringe Muslim Cleric From Australia Became a Hero to America’s Far Right
The InterceptFor Islamophobes, Mohamad Tawhidi is something very close to a godsend. A Shia Muslim cleric, raised in Australia and educated in Iran, Tawhidi presents himself as an Islamic reformer who embraces and amplifies far-right warnings that immigration by his fellow Muslims poses an existential threat to Western civilization. Read More
Pools in France close after women defy burkini ban
Al JazeeraSeven burkini-clad women, accompanied by activists from the Alliance Citoyenne rights group, went to the Grenoble pools on Sunday demanding the right to bathe – despite a municipal ban on the swimwear worn by Muslim women. They said the ban was discrimination. Read More
Lebanese town bans Muslims from buying, renting property
Associated PressThe town of Hadat is a small example of Lebanon’s deeply rooted sectarian divisions that once led to a fifteen-year civil war that left more than one hundred thousand people dead. Christian communities feel under siege as Muslims, who tend to have higher birth rates, leave overcrowded areas for once predominantly Christian neighborhoods. Read More
'Obvious religious hatred': Muslim man in India lynched on video
Al JazeeraIndian police say they have arrested eleven people over the torture of a Muslim man who later died of his wounds, in the latest suspected lynching in the country by Hindu vigilantes. Read More
Iraqis welcome Pope Francis' plan to visit in 2020
Al MonitorMuslim leaders in Iraq are joining Christians in expressing their enthusiasm for Pope Francis’ planned visit next year. Read More
Malaysia reopens probe into kidnapping of Shia activist, pastor
Al JazeeraMalaysia’s government has set up a special taskforce to reinvestigate the kidnappings of two activists – Amri Che Mat and Raymond Koh – after the country’s human rights commission blamed the police’s intelligence branch for the abductions. Read More
A Muslim In Rural, White Minnesota On How To 'Love Thy Neighbor'
NPRDr. Ayaz Virji talks to NPR about his experiences moving his family to the small town of Dawson, MN. His book was published 11 June. Read More
Egypt's ex-President Mohamed Morsi dies after court appearance
Al JazeeraEgypt’s first democratically elected president, and the first civilian to hold the office in that country, died on Monday in a Cairo courthouse during his trial on charges of espionage. His family has not been allowed to take possession of his body. Read More
Mohamed Morsi Died in a Soundproof Cage
The New York TimesMona Eltahawy provides her examination of “what six years of deliberate and sustained cruelty tell us about el-Sisi’s Egypt.” Read More
Mohamed Morsi's death and the power of Arab despots
Middle East EyeProfessor Madawi al-Rasheed, of King’s College London and the London School of Economics, says the death of Egypt’s first democratically elected president should be a wake-up call for Western leaders aiding despots. Read More
Egypt's Morsi: The Final Hours
Al JazeeraAl Jazeera World’s March 2019 documentary about the mass protests and military coup that took down President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. Read More
So, what really is jihad?
The ConversationMichigan State Professor Mohammad Hassan Khalil observes that, “violent radicals who attempt to justify terrorism on religious grounds are often misrepresenting the scholarly sources they cite” and offers important clarification on the issue of jihad. Read More
Nike releases ‘Pro Hijab’ to meet demand for modest fashions
New York PostSportswear brand Nike was way ahead of the curve when it launched its first-ever hijab back in December 2017. Now, back by popular demand, the brand has unveiled a new version of the performance wear piece. Read More
Follow Me, Akhi by Hussein Kesvani review – how social media is changing liberal Islam
The GuardianBurham Wazir reviews “a thoughtful and witty account of how British Muslims interact with the online world”. Read More
How Muslims became the good guys on TV
BBCHit show Homeland is about to end, after many years casting Islam as the enemy. But in its place has come a wave of thrillers portraying Muslims as heroes, writes Mohammad Zaheer. Read More
The Arab world in seven charts: Are Arabs turning their backs on religion?
BBCArabs are increasingly saying they are no longer religious, according to the largest and most in-depth survey undertaken of the Middle East and North Africa. Read More
After fascist threat to Houston mosque, Texas Muslims call for increased security
Religion News Service“Based on recent events and hate crimes targeting American Muslims, immigrant communities and other minority groups, it is critical that we take these threats seriously and bring the perpetrators to justice,” says Lubabah Abdullah, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Houston chapter. Last month, CAIR announced that it had reported more than five hundred incidences of anti-Muslim bias or harassment in the United States already this year. Read More
Pope seeks more freedom in theology, dialogue with Islam
Associated PressPope Francis called Friday for a reform of the way theology is taught in Catholic schools, saying students must learn about dialogue with Judaism and Islam, and that overall there must be greater freedom in theological research and academic pursuits. Read More
Former Romanian president, now MEP: ‘EU seems to tell us we must live with Muslim invasion’
PoliticoFormer Romanian President Traian Băsescu, newly elected as an MEP as part of the European People’s Party, slammed EU inaction on migration and what he sees as the bloc’s inability to protect its borders. Read More
The EU's Islamophobia is getting worse – Britain must fight this from within
The GuardianYasmin Qureshi warns that although far-right parties did not do as well in last month’s EU parliament elections as many feared they would, nationalism is still on the rise across the continent, and the EU is not an innocent bystander. Read More
Mahathir explores Islamic heritage
The Star OnlineThe Albukhary Foundation Gallery is helping British Museum to redisplay its important collections on Islamic heritage and reflect the connections between the cultures of Islam and the ancient world on the one hand, and the cultures of the Mediterranean world and Europe on the other hand. Read More
Hindu monks push government to help build temple on disputed Indian site
ReutersA militant Hindu mob tore down a sixteenth-century mosque in Ayodhya in 1992, triggering riots that killed about two thousand people, in one of the worst instances of communal violence in India since the 1947 partition of the country. Now, monks are insisting the Hindu-nationalist government rebuild the temple that they say once stood there. Read More
Belgium seeks Uighur family in Xinjiang after disappearance
France 24The disappearance of a woman and her four children has alarmed her husband, as an estimated one million ethnic Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities are believed to be held in internment camps in Xinjiang. Read More
Faith in ruins: China's vanishing beards and mosques
BBCThe BBC has found new evidence of the increasing control and suppression of Islam in China’s far western region of Xinjiang–including the widespread destruction of mosques. Read More
A Muslim Family Sought Help at the Belgian Embassy in Beijing. The Police Dragged Them Out.
The New York TimesThe last time Abdulhamid Tursun spoke to his wife, she was huddled in a Beijing hotel room with their four children, frightened after being evicted from the Belgian Embassy in the dead of night. Suddenly, plainclothes police officers burst into the room, cutting off the couple’s video call. Read More
Six pull out of Bradford festival over counter-extremism funding
The GuardianSix writers and activists have withdrawn from the Bradford Literary Festival after discovering that it received funding from a UK Home Office “counter-extremism” program. Read More
‘These People Aren’t Coming From Norway’: Refugees in a Minnesota City Face a Backlash
The New York TimesAs more Somali refugees arrive in St. Cloud, white anti-immigration activists have pressed an increasingly explicit anti-Muslim agenda. Read More
Gold Refining Techniques Of A Medieval Islamic City Revealed By Experimental Archaeology
ForbesArchaeologists working at the medieval market city of Tadmekka recently discovered a set of ceramic molds used to cast metal coins. Tadmekka is located today in the country of Mali on the edges of the Saharan desert. Read More
Islamic fatwa approves organ donation after Bristol man's efforts
BBCAfter a twenty-three-year campaign, scholars have answered the call of Amjid Ali, who needed a kidney transplant and worked for Britain’s National Health service, with a legal opinion which allows the Muslim community to be more involved in organ donation. Read More
Leadership debate: BBC defends vetting process after imam's tweets emerge
BBCImam Abdullah Patel said he was sure he had not criticized Jewish people but stood by criticism of Israeli policy. The broadcaster said: “Had we been aware of the views he expressed he would not have been selected.” Read More
Imam and solicitor suspended from jobs after BBC Tory debate
The GuardianAn imam and a solicitor who asked questions on the BBC’s Conservative leadership debate have been suspended from their jobs after they were criticised over past comments on social media. Read More
Iranian hard-liners praise taxi driver for booting passenger over 'poor' hijab
Al MonitorWhen Pooyeh Nourian tweeted her outrage with a Tehran cab driver she had ordered through a popular ride-hailing app, she probably had no idea that her tweets would open a Pandora’s box on Iran’s controversial hijab rules. Read More
Scores of Yemeni women arrested by Houthis in 'political' anti-sex work campaign
Middle East EyeHouthi rebel authorities say they’re cracking down on immorality, though others say the drive is an attempt to stifle opposition to them. Read More
Global Halal Food Market to Reach US$ 2,043.2 Billion by 2027 - Coherent Market Insights
Yahoo FinanceThe halal food market is expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period. Factors such as increasing Muslim population worldwide coupled with development in the retail sector supply chain is expected to boost the revenue for global halal food market in the near future. Read More
Iraq considers appointing powerful clerics to high court
Al MonitorIraq’s parliament is working on a draft law that could put clerics on the Federal Supreme Court and give them veto power. Read More
Friday blast at Shi'ite mosque in Baghdad wounds several: police sources
ReutersA bomb blast at a Shi’ite Muslim mosque in eastern Baghdad wounded at least seven people on Friday, security sources said, correcting earlier reports of seven killed. Read More
Rohingya refugees: focusing only on their return home ignores the crime and health crises in Bangladesh’s camps
The ConversationOne of the most pressing issues facing the refugees in Bangladesh’s camps is the fact that they are being increasingly targeted by criminal gangs, and getting involved in criminal activities. Thousands are at risk of human trafficking, while others are being recruited as drug mules. Read More
Canada's Quebec bans religious symbols in some public sector jobs
Al JazeeraCritics have denounced the move as giving into "politics of fear" as Quebec bans some government employees from wearing religious symbols at work. Read More
Quebec Bill 21: Is it OK for public servants to wear religious symbols?
BBCFor a decade, Quebec has been debating the issues of state secularism and reasonable religious accommodation in the Canadian province. Now it has just passed a new law that bars civil servants in positions of “authority” from wearing religious symbols at work. Read More
Quebec law banning hijab at work creates ‘politics of fear', say critics
The GuardianCritics of Quebec’s new Bill 21 have argued that the law creates de-facto second class citizenship. “Canada is already a secular state and that is reflected in our institutions.” A spokesman for the Ministry of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism. “This new law undermines fundamental rights and individual freedoms because it forces some people to choose between their religion and their job.” Read More
Egypt’s Al-Azhar retreats from fatwa on beating women
Al MonitorAfter a series of “bombshell” statements on women and marriage, Al-Azhar’s Grand Imam, Ahmed el-Tayeb is courting controversy and dividing Egyptian Muslims and the wider Islamic community. Read More
Senior Islamic cleric issues fatwa against child marriage
The GuardianOne of the world’s most prestigious centers of Islamic learning has issued a fatwa against child marriage, saying marriage should be based on the consent of both parties and “particularly the young woman”. Read More
What is Eid and how do Muslims celebrate it? 6 questions answered
The ConversationMuslims all over the world are celebrating Eid al-Fitr, one of the religion’s principal festivals. In August, Muslims will celebrate Eid al-Adha. Ken Chitwood, a scholar of global Islam, explains the two Islamic festivals. Read More
Eid al-Fitr 2019: Everything you need to know
Al JazeeraAs Muslims around the world bid Ramadan farewell, they also prepare for Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of the Muslim holy month. Read More
The Hijab Friendly Hair Salon
BBC NewsFor many hijab-clad women, getting your hair done in a regular salon can prove to be an isolating experience. One woman decided to address that by starting the first women’s only salon in New York. Now, her business serves as a safe-haven where hijabi women can be pampered. Read More
As Yemenis prepare for Eid, even celebration is a struggle
Al JazeeraThis year, families celebrate being alive and healthy as poverty, unemployment dampen spirits in war-torn Yemen. Read More
Israeli forces and settlers enter Al-Aqsa Mosque compound
Al JazeeraMarking Jerusalem Day, when Israelis celebrate their occupation of East Jerusalem after the 1967 war, Israeli forces entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound along with hundreds of ultra-nationalist Jews. The Waqf organization which oversees Islam’s third holiest site said police used rubber bullets and pepper spray and arrested seven people. Read More
A Muslim appeal for Saudi Arabia to show mercy
The EconomistAt least eighty respected scholars and teachers of the Muslim faith, from many countries but mostly Anglophone ones, have lent their names to a plea to the Saudi authorities. It urges the kingdom to spare the lives of three well-known figures in the world of Islam. Read More
How Muslim leaders can respond in an age of extremism
The ConversationTerror is a vicious cycle, always a catastrophe for its victims, inevitably a calamity for its perpetrators, and unavoidably a cost for humanity. These researchers ask, can community leaders help mitigate this? and more specifically, examine how Muslim leaders should respond in communities simultaneously blamed for and victimized by terrorism. Read More
Intel: Why Turkey’s transfer of Muslim bloc leadership to Saudis was so uncomfortable
Al MonitorWhen two adversaries bump into each other, a common solution is to avoid interaction. But that was not an option for Turkish and Saudi officials this week as Ankara turned over leadership of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to its rival in an unusually frosty handoff. Read More
Hate crimes associated with both Islamophobia and anti-Semitism have a long history in America’s past
The ConversationHate crimes associated with both Islamophobia and anti-Semitism have shown an increase in recent years. But is there an association between the two? Read More
Muslims leave Sri Lanka govt to allow probe of terror claim
Associated PressEleven Muslim politicians resigned from top government posts in Sri Lanka on Monday, saying they wanted to enable the government to investigate allegations that some of them had links to the extremists who carried out the deadly Easter attacks. Read More
Qatar expresses reservations over Mecca summit outcome
Al JazeeraQatar said on Sunday it had reservations about hardline statements on Iran made at emergency summits in Mecca organized by Saudi Arabia. Read More
During Ramadan, growing Muslim philanthropy enters the spotlight
Religion News Service“The purpose of fasting is to connect with your creator spiritually,” says Waleed Ahmad, the director of programs at Humanity First USA, a Muslim-led aid organization. “But it’s also to realize there are people in the world who do not get those two meals a day. So let’s at least give our lunch money to them.” Read More
#BlackoutEid: Celebrating being black and Muslim
Al JazeeraNena Beecham explains Why we need black Muslim spaces and hashtags like #BlackoutEid. Read More
The Muslims Who Do Not Fast During Ramadan
Atlas ObscuraMembers of Senegal’s Baye Fall sect eat, cook, and deliver food in grand processions. Read More
Pop culture got Islam wrong for years. ‘Ramy’ made getting it right look easy.:
Washington PostZainab Mudallal writes, “Instead of presenting Islam as a brooding, world-historical force, ‘Ramy’ made religion one of its major subjects, taking audiences inside one person’s spiritual journey. “And “Ramy” took on these tasks as the first show on a mainstream, U.S. outlet that centers around Arab and Muslim experiences. That’s a lot of pressure to place on a freshman series, especially one that runs only ten roughly twenty-five-minute episodes . . . But “Ramy” works because it embraces those challenges.” Read More
Moon sightings, politics play a part in Muslim holiday
Associated PressMuslims across the Middle East and beyond began Tuesday marking the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr, one of the most celebrated holidays for the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims, amid confusion about the start of the three-day holiday fed partly by political differences. Read More
Muslims celebrate Eid, ending Ramadan holy month
ReutersMuslims around the world celebrated the Eid-al-Fitr religious holiday on Tuesday, marking the end of Islam’s holy month of Ramadan. Read More
In pictures: Muslims around the world celebrate Eid
BBC NewsThe “festival of the breaking of the fast” begins when the moon rises on the final day of Ramadan, a holy month of fasting. The timing varies from country to country, with some following the moonrise in Mecca and others using local sightings. Read More
What is Sahwa, the Awakening movement under pressure in Saudi?
Al JazeeraScholars linked to the Saudi al-Sahwa al-Islamiyya (Islamic Awakening), or Sahwa, movement, a period of powerful social and political change between the 1960s and 1980s, are reportedly on death row, but Sahwa has not always been out of favor with the kingdom. Read More
Who are the key Sahwa figures Saudi Arabia is cracking down on?
Al JazeeraSaudi Arabia is currently cracking down on the Sahwa, or Awakening, with at least three figures linked to the movement reported to be on death row. Read More
Wrecked mosques, police watch: A tense Ramadan in Xinjiang
Yahoo NewsThe corner where Heyitkah Mosque in China’s restive Xinjiang region once hummed with life is now a concrete parking lot where all traces of the tall, domed building have been erased. Read More
Muslims have more visibility than ever. But can we praise it?:
The Washington PostFashion writer Hoda Katebi reflects on Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue that featured hijabi model Halima Aden in a burkini: “. . . we live at the cusp of both unprecedented Muslim visibility and heightened anti-Muslim racism. If we are not careful, these new modes of representation may contribute to the rise of anti-Muslim racism, rather than combat it.” Read More
Saudi gentrifies Shiite old quarter after crushing revolt
France24Strip malls and palm-dotted boulevards stand in the once bullet-scarred old quarter of Awamiya, a Shiite-majority town on Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich eastern coast where the long-planned facelift fuelled deadly clashes. Read More
Amid Ramadan celebrations, Jordanians fear an uncertain future
Religion News ServiceAlthough Ramadan is meant to be a month of prayer, self-discipline, and charity toward those less fortunate, it also provides opportunities for reflection on the social and political realities for young Jordanians uncertain about their kingdom’s future. Read More
How the joy of Eid masks an unbearable grief for Yemeni war orphans
Middle East EyeFor the children of Taiz who have lost their parents, the holidays are a painful reminder of their former lives. Read More
The Boy At The Back Of The Class: Hit children's writer on her story of kindness
Middle East EyeOnjali Q Rauf’s debut novel has become an award-winning hit, spurred by her lifetime of helping others. Read More
Aung San Suu Kyi finds common ground with Orbán over Islam
The GuardianThe leader of Myanmar has found a new ally in far-right, staunchly anti-immigrant Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán. Read More
How will Austria’s new headscarf ban affect Muslims?
The Washington PostOn 16 May, Austria’sparliament approved a law banning headscarves in public primary schools. Authors explore the new policy’s implications for Muslim minority in the central European nation. Read More
Muslim Wellness Foundation's Black Iftar centers culture and healing
The Philadelphia TribuneThe Muslim Wellness Foundation hosted a special Iftar (Ramadan breaking of fast) that centered the experience of Black Muslims Saturday at the Pennyack Mill. Named The Black Iftar (Philly), the event is not exclusively open to Black Muslims, but was designed to fill a void left by racism against Black Muslims and acknowledge their practice of Islam. Read More
Saudi Arabia and Iran after the summits of discontent
Al JazeeraSaudi Arabia hosted three summits last week – a Gulf, an Arab and an Islamic one – with one common goal: Confront and isolate Iran. All other urgent issues in the region, from the ongoing decimation of Yemen to the implosion of Libya to the daily bombings in Syria and the worsening occupation of Palestine, all had to take a backseat. Read More
Quebec Is Poised to Undermine Religious Freedom
Foreign PolicyWith a proposed ban on public employees wearing religious symbols in Quebec to be debated by the legislature by 14 June, the Canadian province is poised to potentially become the first regional government in North America to ban the veil for government staff. Like many bans on religious symbols, this one, in theory, will also target turbans and yarmulkes. In practice, it will hit Muslim women who wear the hijab hardest. Read More
Forced conversions, marriages spike in Pakistan
Religion News Service“We were walking back to our house after working on the farm when men in a car came out of nowhere and dragged us in with them,” said Suneeta, who is Hindu and lives in Badin, a small city in the south of Pakistan. “The next thing we knew, we were in a shrine being forced to say the kalma (acceptance of Islam) by a cleric.” Read More
Greece: Athens mosque likely to open by September, official says
Al JazeeraGreece’s education and religion minister says the country’s long-delayed first state-sponsored mosque is likely to begin operating in September, about three years after its construction was approved by parliament. Read More
In northern Nigeria, Muslims and Christians take small steps toward reconciliation
Religion News ServiceRecently, a group of Muslims visited Christian widows and orphans in northwestern Nigeria and donated food, clothing and school items as part of efforts to enhance peaceful coexistence among different faiths. Read More
Hope dwindles for cease-fire in Afghanistan at end of Ramadan
The Washington PostAn unprecedented cease-fire last year at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan saw an influx of Taliban fighters into urban areas, where they mingled with civilians, posed for selfies and raised expectations for successful peace talks that would put an end to the country’s drawn-out war. Despite the spike in violence during Ramadan this year, many were optimistic that a similar arrangement would again be made. Read More