Islam in Media Roundup 15-21 July

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood: a change toward democracy?

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood: a change toward democracy?

Al Monitor

In an unprecedented step, Egypt’s Muslim brotherhood has issued a statement saying it no longer seeks to be in power and will instead work with the country’s other political movements.
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Muslim cleric who hid Christians during attacks honored in the US

Muslim cleric who hid Christians during attacks honored in the US

CNN

Imam Abubakar Abdullahi has been recognized for providing shelter for hundreds of Christians fleeing attacks from Muslim herdsmen who had launched coordinated attacks on Christian farmers in 10 villages in the Barkin Ladi area of Plateau State in June 2018.
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Five Tips For Supporting Muslims In The Workplace

Five Tips For Supporting Muslims In The Workplace

Forbes

As we work to create more equitable workplaces, we need to understand and support the needs of all identities that have been marginalized or underserved. Muslims are arguably one of the most misunderstood identities in the United States, and as such, their needs are often overlooked.
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Archaeologists find mosque from when Islam arrived in holy land

Archaeologists find mosque from when Islam arrived in holy land

Reuters

Archaeologists in Israel have discovered the remains of one of the world’s oldest rural mosques, built around the time Islam arrived in the holy land, they said on Thursday.
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Religious restrictions on the rise globally: report

Religious restrictions on the rise globally: report

Al Jazeera

The number of restrictions imposed on religion has risen since 2007 in both authoritarian countries as well as liberal democracies in Europe, says a Pew report released on Monday.
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These copycat bills on sharia law and terrorism have no effect. Why do states keep passing them?

These copycat bills on sharia law and terrorism have no effect. Why do states keep passing them?

USA Today

A far-right think tank pushed model bills on sharia law and terrorism in dozens of states. Civil rights groups say the goal was to stoke fear.
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Explainer: what Western civilisation owes to Islamic cultures

Explainer: what Western civilisation owes to Islamic cultures

The Conversation

Civilization is always being reinvented. The civilization some call “Western” has been, and still is, continually shaped by a wide range of political, literary and intellectual influences, all worthy of our attention, as Constant Mews explains.
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As more Muslims run for office, community urged ‘to take center stage’ in an era of immigration raids and racist tweets

As more Muslims run for office, community urged ‘to take center stage’ in an era of immigration raids and racist tweets

Chicago Tribune

“Our message to the community is, continue your leadership. Be civic and social leaders,” Says Dilara Sayeed. “You’re welcome to do it behind the scenes, as we’ve been taught in some of our cultures to do, but when it is time to take center stage, be unafraid.”
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How Muslim women break stereotypes by mixing faith and modesty with fashion

How Muslim women break stereotypes by mixing faith and modesty with fashion

The Conversation

Explorative research, based on interviews with young Muslim women living in a New Zealand city, shows how they use their everyday lives and identity to change stereotypes of oppression.
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Some Iranian women take off hijabs as hard-liners push back

Some Iranian women take off hijabs as hard-liners push back

AP

The simple act of walking has become a display of defiance for a young Iranian woman who often moves in Tehran’s streets without a compulsory headscarf, or hijab. With every step, she risks harassment or even arrest by Iran’s morality police whose job is to enforce the strict dress code imposed after the 1979 Revolution.
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Macron seeks answers from Iran over academic's detention

Macron seeks answers from Iran over academic's detention

Al Jazeera

French President Emmanuel Macron has called on Tehran to explain why a Franco-Iranian academic based at a Paris university has been arrested in Iran, expressing concern for the woman’s welfare.
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Muslim community shuns women released from prison, says report

Muslim community shuns women released from prison, says report

The Guardian

The Muslim community in Britain shuns women who have been to prison while forgiving convicted men, “no matter what they’ve done”, according to a report.
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Muslim Conservatives speak out after criticism of the party over Islamophobia

Muslim Conservatives speak out after criticism of the party over Islamophobia

BBC News

Grassroots Muslim Conservatives, and a former Tory, share both their positive and negative experiences of being in the party and warn that unless the Conservative Party becomes proactive in tackling Islamophobia the party risks being seen as one which has “gone backwards”.
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Boris Johnson claimed Islam put Muslim world 'centuries behind'

Boris Johnson claimed Islam put Muslim world 'centuries behind'

The Guardian

Boris Johnson has been strongly criticized for arguing Islam has caused the Muslim world to be “literally centuries behind” the west, in an essay unearthed by the Guardian.
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‘Will Allah be OK with this?’: inside the BBC's first British-Muslim sketch show

‘Will Allah be OK with this?’: inside the BBC's first British-Muslim sketch show

The Guardian

They joke about airport security and overindulging over Ramadan. Meet the creators of Muzlamic, the trailblazing comedy exploring the contradictions of modern Muslim life.
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British Museum to explore Islamic world's impact on western art

British Museum to explore Islamic world's impact on western art

The Guardian

An art tradition sometimes dismissed as perpetuating lazy stereotypes about the east will soon, the British Museum hopes, be seen in a different light thanks to a major exhibition exploring how western artists have been inspired by the Islamic world.
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For faith or money: Why Gazans are eager to perform umrah

For faith or money: Why Gazans are eager to perform umrah

Al Monitor

Many Palestinians leave the coastal enclave on a pilgrimage to Islam’s holiest sites and never return.
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The best YA books: 10 Middle East authors worth reading

The best YA books: 10 Middle East authors worth reading

Middle East Eye

Long gone are the days when teens and tweens from the Middle East, North Africa and elsewhere could not read about fictional characters who looked, spoke and ate like them.
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Sunnis accuse Shiites of expanding influence in Mosul

Sunnis accuse Shiites of expanding influence in Mosul

Al Monitor

Mosul’s liberation from the Islamic State group has pushed Sunni concerns about the balance of sectarian influence in the city to the forefront.

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New Zealand begins gun buyback after mosque shootings

New Zealand begins gun buyback after mosque shootings

New York Post

Hundreds of New Zealand gun owners have surrendered their weapons in exchange for cash, the first of many gun buybacks in the country after the mass murders at two Christchurch mosques.
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What’s Behind Quebec’s Ban on Religious Symbols

What’s Behind Quebec’s Ban on Religious Symbols

The Atlantic

Quebec has become the first state or province in North America to ban Muslim head scarves and other religious symbols, including Jewish kippahs, Sikh turbans, and Christian crosses, among some public servants.
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As China locks up Muslims in Xinjiang, it opens its doors to tourists

As China locks up Muslims in Xinjiang, it opens its doors to tourists

Yahoo News

The Chinese government has rounded up an estimated one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim Turkic-speaking minorities into re-education camps in the tightly-controlled region in China’s northwest, but it has also created a parallel universe for visitors, who are only shown a carefully curated version of traditional customs and culture.
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Improved Turkish-Chinese come at a cost to Uighurs: 


Improved Turkish-Chinese come at a cost to Uighurs: 


Al Monitor

Turkey’s President Erdogan’s defense of the Uighurs seems to have become a casualty of his efforts to lure increased investment and better trade ties with Beijing. 
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Malaysia's 'Phoenix': hijab-wearing wrestler breaking barriers

Malaysia's 'Phoenix': hijab-wearing wrestler breaking barriers

Yahoo News

A hijab-wearing, diminutive Malaysian wrestler known as “Phoenix” cuts an unusual figure in the ring, a female Muslim fighter taking on hulking opponents in a male-dominated world.
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Malaysian sex-tape scandal poses a challenge for Muslim reporters

Malaysian sex-tape scandal poses a challenge for Muslim reporters

Columbia Journalism Review

For the past six weeks, Malaysians have been mesmerized by a series of shocking sex videos. The video clips, which started circulating in journalists’ WhatsApp groups on June 11 and then went viral, depicted what the New Straits Times described as “two men frolicking in bed.” 
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It's time for Muslim Americans to condemn Hamza Yusuf

It's time for Muslim Americans to condemn Hamza Yusuf

Al Jazeera

Maha Hilal says the prominent scholar’s membership in a commission that could help the Trump administration roll back human rights is the last straw.
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Cops conduct fewer probes involving Muslims and other religious and political groups, says NYPD monitor

Cops conduct fewer probes involving Muslims and other religious and political groups, says NYPD monitor

New York Daily News

Police appear to be conducting fewer investigations intruding on peoples’ religious and political activity, according to a report issued Thursday by a former federal judge appointed to monitor such probes.
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LAPD investigating package at Islamic Center of Northridge

LAPD investigating package at Islamic Center of Northridge

Los Angeles Daily News

An LAPD investigative team and bomb squad were called to the Islamic Center of Northridge’s Community center and mosque in Granada Hills, CA over a suspicious package.
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North Texas Indian Muslim group protests against lynching in Jharkhand

North Texas Indian Muslim group protests against lynching in Jharkhand

The American Bazaar

In a show of outrage at the recent killing of an Indian Muslim clergyman, members of the North Texas Indian Muslim community protested in Dallas Sunday demanding justice for the deceased 24-year-old man in the state of Jharkhand in India last month. The protests were part of a nationwide protest held in Houston, New York City and Chicago.
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Pakistani police arrest Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed

Pakistani police arrest Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed

Al Jazeera

Pakistani police have arrested Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba armed group and head of its Jamaat-ud-Dawa humanitarian wing, intercepting him on his way to court in the central city of Gujranwala.
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From Apollo 8 to SpaceIL, how to celebrate Shabbat, Ramadan and Christmas in space

From Apollo 8 to SpaceIL, how to celebrate Shabbat, Ramadan and Christmas in space

Religion News Service

Christian Jewish and Muslim austronauts have all brought their faiths with them into orbit. Marking the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Mission that saw Neil Armstrong’s small step and the leap it represented for humanity, this article provides a look back at the history of religious ritual in space.
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US demands Saudi Arabia release 'critic of Islam'

US demands Saudi Arabia release 'critic of Islam'

Al Jazeera

US Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday called out ally Saudi Arabia for the suppression of religious liberties and urged it to release Raif Badawi, a blogger imprisoned for reportedly insulting Islam.
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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!