Category Archives: Islam

Africa’s largest mosque inaugurated in Algeria after years of delays

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Prayer room of Great Mosque of Algiers, beset by political wrangling and cost overruns, accommodates 120,000 people

Algeria has inaugurated a gigantic mosque on its Mediterranean coastline after years of political upheaval transformed the project from a symbol of state-sponsored strength and religiosity to one of delays and cost overruns.

Built by a Chinese construction firm throughout the 2010s, the Great Mosque of Algiers features the world’s tallest minaret, measuring 265 metres (869ft).

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Hindu nationalists go to court over lion named after Muslim emperor in India

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Controversy in West Bengal centres around Akbar and Sita, named for a Hindu deity, being placed in the same enclosure

An Indian Hindu nationalist organisation has launched a court petition to stop two lions named after a Hindu deity and a 16th-century Muslim emperor from sharing a zoo enclosure.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a prominent rightwing Hindu organisation, went to court in the state of West Bengal after reports a lioness named Sita had been put with a lion called Akbar.

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Hindus can worship in contested mosque, Indian court rules

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Fears decision on Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi could increase religious tensions and inspire more claims

An Indian court has ruled that Hindus can worship inside a contested mosque, a verdict that it is feared will increase religious tensions and galvanise further claims against other Muslim places of worship.

Gyanvapi mosque, in the holy city of Varanasi, was built in the 17th century by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and has been in use by Muslims for prayer ever since.

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Elderly Uyghur women imprisoned in China for decades-old religious ‘crimes’, leaked files reveal

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Hundreds of women sentenced for practices such as studying the Qur’an, dating back as far back as 60s and 70s, analysis of Chinese police files shows

Hundreds of thousands of Uyghur female religious leaders are estimated to have been arrested and imprisoned in Xinjiang since 2014, with some elderly women detained for practices that took place decades ago, according to an analysis of leaked Chinese police files.

There is growing evidence of the abusive treatment of the Uyghur Muslim population of the north-west Chinese region of Xinjiang, with their traditions and religion seen as evidence of extremism and separatism.

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Saudi Arabia to allow first alcohol sales in 72 years, dividing opinion

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Shop will be open only to non-Muslim diplomats – but some fear it is first step to wider availability of alcohol in teetotal kingdom

The news that Saudi Arabia will allow its first alcohol shop has citizens and foreigners alike mulling one question: is this a minor policy tweak, or a major upheaval?

Sources familiar with preparations for the store disclosed details of the plan on Wednesday, as a document circulated indicating just how carefully leaders of the teetotal Gulf kingdom will manage its operations.

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‘War hurts our hearts’: silent multi-faith peace walk held in London

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Hundreds follow route to Parliament Square in solidarity with people affected by Israel-Gaza conflict

Without flags, placards or chants, hundreds of people joined a silent multi-faith peace walk in London on Sunday in response to the Israel-Gaza war.

Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus and Buddhists walked side-by-side from Trafalgar Square to Parliament Square and back in solidarity with people affected by the conflict in the Middle East.

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New Jersey imam fatally shot outside mosque as shooter remains at large

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Cleric was attacked outside Masjid-Muhammad-Newark on Wednesday morning in Newark

A New Jersey imam was shot and killed on Wednesday outside a mosque in the state’s largest city, authorities said as officers worked to identify and arrest the shooter.

The cleric, Imam Hassan Sharif, was shot after 6am outside the Masjid-Muhammad-Newark mosque, Newark’s public safety director, Fritz Fragé, said in an emailed statement. Sharif was taken to nearby University hospital and was in critical condition, authorities said. He later succumbed to his injuries.

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Academic paper based on Uyghur genetic data retracted over ethical concerns

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Exclusive: Study published in 2019 used blood and saliva samples from 203 Uyghur and Kazakh people living in Xinjiang capital

Concerns have been raised that academic publishers may not be doing enough to vet the ethical standards of research they publish, after a paper based on genetic data from China’s Uyghur population was retracted and questions were raised about several others including one that is currently published by Oxford University Press.

In June, Elsevier, a Dutch academic publisher, retracted an article entitled “Analysis of Uyghur and Kazakh populations using the Precision ID Ancestry Panel” that had been published in 2019.

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Government offices in EU can ban wearing of religious symbols, court rules

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Decision made in case of Muslim employee in Belgium states that restrictions must be applied equally

Government offices across the EU can ban employees from wearing religious symbols, such as Islamic headscarves, in the interest of neutrality, the EU’s top court has ruled, though it stressed that such restrictions must be applied equally to all employees and fit within the legal context of each member state.

The decision, published by the court of justice of the European Union on Tuesday, said such bans were permissible in order to enforce an “entirely neutral administrative environment”.

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‘It’s scary’: residents in Rotterdam reflect on Geert Wilders’ election win

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Wilders’ far-right party won the most seats in Dutch election, though many in this diverse city say they can understand why

In this tiny plaza, still plastered with posters urging voters to back the minority rights party Denk, the yawning divide between voters in Rotterdam’s diverse Feijenoord district was on full display.

On one side stood Nas Kosa, a Muslim who fears what might lie ahead after Geert Wilders’ far right, anti-Islam party surged to win more seats than any other party in Wednesday’s election.

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Coldplay concert to go ahead in Malaysia amid opposition from conservative Muslims

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‘Kill switch’ to cut power in case of an ‘unwanted incident’ was discussed, but the band’s support of Palestine has endeared them to prime minister

A Coldplay concert is going ahead in Malaysia on Wednesday despite opposition from conservative Muslims in the country, but the band could face a “kill switch” that cuts off the show if they seriously offend cultural sensibilities.

Following outcry over a same-sex kiss between members of the 1975 at a Kuala Lumpur concert in July, earlier this month deputy communications and digital minister Teo Nie Ching introduced a ruling that concert organisers must have “a kill switch that will cut off electricity during any performance if there is any unwanted incident”.

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China closing hundreds of mosques in northern regions, rights group says

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HRW says other mosques altered, for example through removal of minarets, as part of sinicisation campaign

Chinese authorities have closed or altered hundreds of mosques in the northern regions of Ningxia and Gansu, homes to the highest Muslim populations in China after Xinjiang, as part of broader efforts to “sinicise” China’s religious minorities, according to a report.

Researchers at Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the Chinese government was significantly reducing the number of mosques in Ningxia autonomous region and Gansu province.

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Illinois community lays to rest ‘kind’ Palestinian boy killed in hate crime

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As family and friends attended the six-year-old’s funeral, elected officials, including Joe Biden, condemned the brutal attack

Crowds of mourners in a Palestinian Chicago suburb paid respects on Monday to a six-year-old Muslim boy killed in an alleged anti-Islamic hate crime, hours after authorities revealed new details about the evidence used to charge the family’s landlord with stabbing the child and his mother.

Wadea Al-Fayoume, who had recently had a birthday, died on Saturday after being stabbed dozens of times in a brutal attack that drew condemnation from local elected officials to the White House. Authorities said the family’s landlord, Joseph Czuba, was upset over the Israel-Hamas war and attacked them after the boy’s mother proposed they “pray for peace”.

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UK campaign group chief says Poland deported him at France’s request

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Head of Cage says criticism of Emmanuel Macron’s government for Islamophobia is reason for forced return to Britain

The UK director of the campaign group Cage has claimed he has been deported from Poland at the behest of French authorities because he criticised Emmanuel Macron’s government for Islamophobia.

Muhammad Rabbani, who heads a group that campaigns on behalf of those affected by the “war on terror”, was due to give a speech this week at an international security conference in Warsaw that would have been critical of France’s handling of anti-government protests.

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Canadian man accused of killing Muslim family motivated by white nationalism, court hears

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Closely watched trial of Nathaniel Veltman, charged with murder, could reshape how Canada prosecutes far-right extremism

The man accused of murdering four members of a Muslim family was motivated by white nationalist beliefs and was out to commit an act of “terrorism”, prosecutors have argued, during opening statements of a closely watched murder trial that could reshape how Canada prosecutes far-right extremism.

Nathaniel Veltman, 22, is facing four charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder after driving his truck into five members of the Afzaal family while they were out for a walk in London, Ontario, on the evening of 6 June 2021.

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French court upholds ban on girls wearing abayas in schools

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State council rejected complaints that ban was discriminatory and could incite hatred against Muslims

France’s top administrative court has upheld a government ban on girls in state schools wearing abayas, rejecting complaints that it was discriminatory and could incite hatred.

The government announced just before schools reopened this week that the abaya, a long, flowing dress worn by some Muslim women, would no longer be allowed because it violated the French principle of secularism, or laïcité.

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French schools send home dozens of girls wearing Muslim abayas

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Girls who refused to remove banned garment given letter saying ‘secularism is not a constraint, it is a liberty’, says minister

On the first day of the new academic year French schools sent home dozens of girls for refusing to remove their abayas, the education minister said on Tuesday.

Defying a ban on the Muslim garment, nearly 300 girls showed up on Monday morning wearing an abaya, Gabriel Attal told the BFM broadcaster. Most agreed to change, but 67 refused and were sent home, he said.

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Travel firms urged to halt trips to Uyghur region over China rights abuses

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Exclusive: Report says optics of western firms organising Xinjiang tours amid ‘crimes against humanity are disastrous’

Uyghur advocates have called on western tourism companies to stop selling package holidays that take visitors through Xinjiang, where human rights abuses by authorities have been called a genocide by some governments.

The request comes as China reopens to foreign visitors after the pandemic, and as its leader, Xi Jinping, calls for more tourism to the region.

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Sweden raises terrorist threat level after Qur’an burnings

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Threat raised to second-highest level as prime minister says country has thwarted planned attacks

Sweden has raised its terrorist threat level to the second-highest number possible, as the prime minister said the country had thwarted planned attacks.

The move comes amid heightened security fears following a string of Qur’an burnings that have caused outrage around the world.

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Mob attacks churches in eastern Pakistan after blasphemy claim

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Christian family accused of desecrating copy of Qur’an, setting off rampage in Faisalabad

Hundreds of Muslim men have attacked a Christian community in eastern Pakistan, vandalising several churches and a cemetery and setting scores of houses on fire, after accusing its members of desecrating a copy of the Qur’an.

Hundreds of people armed with sticks and rocks stormed a predominantly Christian area in Faisalabad on Wednesday. Images on social media showed smoke rising from church buildings and people setting fire to furniture.

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