An explosion struck a mosque in northern Afghanistan during Friday prayers, police said, with eyewitnesses reporting dozens of casualties. The blast hit Mawlavi Sikandar mosque north of Kunduz city, provincial police spokesman Obaidullah Abedi told AFP. “At the moment we have no details about the type of the blast or …
Read More »Opinion | France elections 2022: Whoever wins, anti-Muslim persecution is the victor
Whether Macron or Le Pen ultimately emerges victorious, Islamophobic persecution is bound to intensify French President Emmanuel Macron and his challenger, Marine Le Pen, have qualified for the final round of the election, echoing their 2017 duel. French Muslims, many of whom had backed the defeated left-wing candidate, Jean-Luc Melenchon, …
Read More »Clashes Erupt in Sweden before far-right rally to burn Holy Qur’an
Fierce clashes have broken out between police and protesters in central Sweden’s Muslim-dominated area during demonstrations against a far-right group’s intention to burn the Holy Qur’an. The clashes erupted on the sidelines of a rally in Orebro city by the anti-immigration and anti-Muslim Stram Kurs (Hard Line) party led by …
Read More »India: Muslims see wave of attacks, hate speech on Hindu festival
Right-wing Hindu groups hold processions in Muslim neighbourhoods and make hate speeches during Ram Navmi celebrations in several states. Muslims in several Indian states are on edge after mobs came out in processions, making hate speeches and attacking their properties during the Hindu festival of Ram Navmi. Most of the …
Read More »Saudi Arabia sets a limit of 1m Hajj pilgrims this year
Saudi Arabia says Muslims from inside and outside the country will be able to perform the Hajj providing they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and no older than 65. Saudi Arabia has said it will allow one million people – from both inside and outside the kingdom – to perform …
Read More »Arabic calligraphy enscribed into UNESCO heritage list
UNESCO on Tuesday added Arabic calligraphy, a key tradition in the Arab and Islamic worlds, to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list. A total of 16 Muslim-majority countries, led by Saudi Arabia, presented the nomination to the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation, which announced the listing on Twitter. “Arabic calligraphy …
Read More »Indonesia Muslim body forbids cryptocurrency trading under Islamic law
Indonesia’s top religious body has declared that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are forbidden under Islamic law and should not be traded in the world’s biggest Muslim majority nation. The country’s powerful Ulema Council issued a fatwah, or religious edict, as virtual currency trading soars in Indonesia and elsewhere. Fatwas have …
Read More »Philippines postpones self-rule vote in restive Muslim region
The Philippine government said Friday it will postpone elections key to ending decades of sectarian bloodshed in a troubled Muslim region, with the pandemic and a stalling peace process blamed for the delay. The vote was a key provision in a 2014 peace agreement aimed at ending a conflict estimated …
Read More »Two Hindu men killed in fresh Bangladesh religious violence
Two Hindu men have been killed in fresh religious violence in Bangladesh, police officials said on Saturday, taking the death toll to six from recent unrest in the Muslim-majority country. Protests began on Wednesday after footage emerged of a Quran being placed on the knee of a Hindu god during …
Read More »French PM Castex, paying tribute to slain teacher, says France will defend its values
French Prime Minister Jean Castex paid tribute on Saturday to history teacher Samuel Paty a year after he was murdered by a radical, saying France would stand up for its values of secularism and freedom. Paty’s attacker, a teenager of Chechen origin, had wanted to avenge the teacher’s use of …
Read More »Third day of clashes in Bangladesh of Quran ‘desecration’
Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at thousands of protesters in Bangladesh’s two main cities on Friday, on the third day of religious disturbances in the Muslim-majority nation, authorities said. The protests began on Wednesday after footage emerged of a Quran being placed on the knee of a god …
Read More »UN deal offers no guarantees of free movement for Rohingya on island: Leaked copy
A deal for the United Nations to start work on a remote Bangladeshi island where the government has sent thousands of Rohingya refugees offers no guarantee they will be allowed to move freely to the mainland, according to a copy of the agreement. The Bangladesh government has moved nearly 19,000 …
Read More »Indian police detain hundreds amid targeted killings of civilians in Kashmir
Government forces have detained at least 500 people in a sweeping crackdown in Indian-controlled Kashmir, local officials said on Sunday, following a string of suspected militant attacks and targeted killings in the disputed region. Assailants fatally shot three Hindus and a Sikh person in the region’s main city of Srinagar …
Read More »UN signs deal with Bangladesh to help Rohingya refugees on remote island
UN officials signed a deal with Bangladesh on Saturday to help provide basic services to thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees who have been moved to camps on a remote island in the Bay of Bengal. The Bangladeshi government has moved nearly 19,000 Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char island from border …
Read More »Pictures | Believers under the Dome of Mercy in Najaf to commemorate the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
Believers under the Dome of Mercy in Najaf to commemorate the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
Read More »Rohingya refugee leader shot dead in Bangladesh camp
An international representative of ethnic Rohingya refugees was shot to death in a camp in Bangladesh by unknown gunmen late Wednesday, police said. Mohibullah, who is in his 40s, was a teacher who emerged as a key refugee leader and a spokesman representing the Muslim ethnic group in international meetings. …
Read More »Serbian troops on heightened alert at Kosovo border amid ‘provocations’
Serbian troops were on heightened alert Sunday at the border with Kosovo, the defense ministry said, accusing the territory of “provocations” after it deployed special police to the area. The special police units were sent to two border crossings in the north of Kosovo, an area mainly populated by minority …
Read More »Pope urges Hungary to be more open to needy outsiders
Pope Francis said on Sunday that Hungary could preserve its Christian roots while opening up to the needy, an apparent response to nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s stand that Muslim immigration could destroy its heritage. Francis was in Hungary for an unusually short stay that underlined differences with the anti-immigrant …
Read More »Iran-Saudi cooperation will benefit region, Muslim world, says official
The assistant to Iran’s foreign minister and director-general for the Persian Gulf affairs of the Foreign Ministry has expressed the country’s intention to cooperate at a maximum level with all its neighbors, saying Tehran-Riyadh ties will be in the interests of the entire region and the Muslim world. “We think …
Read More »Indonesia condemns attack on Ahmadiyah minority house of worship
Indonesia condemned on Friday an attack on a house of worship belonging to the Ahmadiyah, a Muslim minority sect, on its part of the Borneo island, calling it an “illegal act”. In a video posted on social media dozens of people can be seen attacking the building, in a village …
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