May 1 – 7

 Why Is The Nation Of Islam Classified As A Hate Group?

Why Is The Nation Of Islam Classified As A Hate Group?

Rhode Island Public Radio

Zain Abdullah, an associate professor of religion and society and Islamic studies at Temple University, discusses the history of the Nation of Islam and why it is labeled as a hate group in the U.S.
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How Two Mississippi College Students Fell in Love and Decided to Join a Terrorist Group

How Two Mississippi College Students Fell in Love and Decided to Join a Terrorist Group

The Atlantic

The Atlantic shares the story of how two college students tried to join the Islamic State and discusses how easy it is to find information about extremist groups.
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Indonesians Seek to Export a Modernized Vision of Islam

Indonesians Seek to Export a Modernized Vision of Islam

The New York Times

Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest mass Islamic organization in the world, started by young Muslims in Indonesia seeks to reinterpret Islamic law dating from the Middle Ages in ways that conform to 21st-century norms.
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Nigeria Chibok girls: Eighty-two freed by Boko Haram

Nigeria Chibok girls: Eighty-two freed by Boko Haram

BBC News

Boko Haram has released 82 girls after nearly 30 years of being held captive. Nearly 100 of the girls taken are still being held captive and the Nigerian government says it will do anything within its power to get them back.
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Sub-Saharan Africa experienced largest increase in religious restrictions in 2015

Sub-Saharan Africa experienced largest increase in religious restrictions in 2015

PEW Research Center

Although Sub-Saharan Africa had fewer religious restrictions in 2015 than many other parts of the world, it experienced a larger increase that year than any other region. This is due to government harassment of religious groups rising from being reported in 25 countries in 2014 and rising to 37 countries in 2015.
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I Am Not Your Muslim

I Am Not Your Muslim

NPR

Nesrine Malik discusses the idea of a “Muslim identity matrix” which means a scale of “how Muslim you look or act.”
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Why catwalk Hijabs are upsetting some Muslim women

Why catwalk Hijabs are upsetting some Muslim women

BBC News

Many popular brands such as Pespi, H&M, and Nike have featured women in Hijabs in recent advertisements and many Muslim women argue that wearing a hijab is something sacred to them that is being undermined by commercialism.
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What’s behind controversial new initiative from Egyptian Islamist group?

What’s behind controversial new initiative from Egyptian Islamist group?

Al Monitor

A political wing of the Gamaa Islamiya has launched the “Save Sinai Initiative,” which aims at stopping violence in the Sinai Peninsula.
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 ‘We must protect our country’: extremist Buddhists target Mandalay’s Muslims

‘We must protect our country’: extremist Buddhists target Mandalay’s Muslims

The Guardian

Ma Ba Tha, or the the Committee to Protect Race and Religion, is an ultra-nationalist Buddhist organization that for years has spread anti-Muslim rhetoric around Myanmar. The group argues that Muslims are “trying to overwhelm the country,” so Ma Ba Tha must fight to protect it.
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It’s Not This Muslim Comedian’s Job to Open Your Mind

It’s Not This Muslim Comedian’s Job to Open Your Mind

The New York Times

Zahra Noorbakhsh speaks about navigating the post-election comedy world as a Muslim, Iranian-American comedian.
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Paris main mosque says Macron election gives hope to French Muslims

Paris main mosque says Macron election gives hope to French Muslims

Reuters

La Grande Mosquée de Paris released a statement in response to Macron election win, saying “it is a clear sign of hope to French Muslims that they can live in harmony and respect of French values.”
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 Iran is seeking 'to control Islamic world', says Saudi Arabian prince

Iran is seeking 'to control Islamic world', says Saudi Arabian prince

The Guardian

Saudi Arabia’s deputy crown prince has rejected attempts at dialogue with Iran concerning current events. He has cited claims that Iran seeks to “control the Islamic world” as evidence for his rejection.
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Kaaba’s doors part of 466 rare Arabian pieces to be shown in Seoul exhibition

Kaaba’s doors part of 466 rare Arabian pieces to be shown in Seoul exhibition

Al Arabiya

Seoul’s National Museum welcomes the “Roads of Arabia” exhibit with doors and other rare pieces from the Kaaba on display.
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Why are so many Muslims suddenly visiting Japan?

Why are so many Muslims suddenly visiting Japan?

The South China Morning Post

Japan has experienced a recent influx of Muslim immigrants which many believe is because the Japanese government has relaxed visa requirements, the growth in low-cost airlines serving Japan and lastly the ease with which Muslim travellers can have their specific needs met.
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 Labour sacks candidate under investigation for 'calling for the eradication of Islam' on Twitter

Labour sacks candidate under investigation for 'calling for the eradication of Islam' on Twitter

The Telegraph

Trevor Merralls, a Labour candidate in Old Bexley and Sidcup, was removed as a candidate because of his offensive tweets calling for “the eradication of Islam.”
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ISIS mufti tells Al Arabiya how he met ‘introverted’ Baghdadi in US prison

ISIS mufti tells Al Arabiya how he met ‘introverted’ Baghdadi in US prison

Al Arabiya

Hussam Naji was captured in Iraq in 2014. Naji details how he met the ISIS leader, what they talked about, and why Baghdadi split with other extremist groups such as al-Qaeda.
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 Australia’s grand mufti wins defamation case over News Corp articles

Australia’s grand mufti wins defamation case over News Corp articles

The Guardian

Australia’s grand mufti, Dr. Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, has won a defamation case over a News Corp article that used racist tropes to  suggest that he had failed to condemn acts of terror.
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Why Pope Francis' approach to Islam breaks the mold of Benedict and previous popes

Why Pope Francis' approach to Islam breaks the mold of Benedict and previous popes

America Magazine

Pope Francis has made it his business to try to build bridges with the Muslim world with the energy of a missionary as opposed to his predecessor Pope Benedict, who tended to deliver his messages about Islam from a distance.
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Robert Mugabe Thankful for Absence of Islam in ‘Highly Developed’ Zimbabwe

Robert Mugabe Thankful for Absence of Islam in ‘Highly Developed’ Zimbabwe

Newsweek

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has blamed Islam for the violence that many African countries are experiencing right now and argued that Zimbabwe is the second most advanced country in Africa, after South Africa, and this is in part due to their small Muslim population (around 1 percent of the population).
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 Islamic and Arab art institute opening in New York aims to challenge stereotypes

Islamic and Arab art institute opening in New York aims to challenge stereotypes

The Guardian

Sheikh Mohammad Rashid al-Thani, a member of the Qatari royal family, has opened the Institute of Arab and Islamic Art in NYC in order to challenge stereotypes and fill the gap in the art community.
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Islamophobia in the USA

Islamophobia in the USA

Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera investigates what the caused anti-Islamic sentiments to rise in the United States in a compelling video.
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What’s it like inside Islam’s holiest site, the Kaaba?

What’s it like inside Islam’s holiest site, the Kaaba?

Al Arabiya

Al Arabiya English shows a glimpse of what’s inside the Kaaba in Mecca.
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 If you want to know about Muslim women's rights, ask Muslim women

If you want to know about Muslim women's rights, ask Muslim women

The Guardian

Susan Carland says it’s time to start letting Muslim women speak for themselves on issues that affect them.
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Maydan editors selected some of the most thought-provoking news items on issues around Islam, religion and public-life for you. Let us know what you have been reading. Drop us a line at mediaroundups@themaydan.com!