Muslim activists continue to push against Quebec secularism law
Religion News ServiceQuebec’s Superior Court recently rejected civil rights advocates’ legal request to suspend the Canadian province’s controversial new ban on religious symbols for state workers.But activists in Canada and around the world say the fight is not yet over.
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Imam buried behind mosque sparks debate in Rockland County village
NY PostA mosque buried its imam in the backyard — and a little Rockland County village almost died of shock.
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Muslim World League, Patriarchate of Moscow sign cooperation deal
Arab NewsThe Muslim World League (MWL) and the Patriarchate of Moscow and All Russia signed on Wednesday an agreement to promote interreligious and intercultural dialogue, as well as a culture of peace and constructive coexistence.
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Xinjiang's Uyghurs didn't choose to be Muslim, new Chinese report says
CNN
China says Xinjiang 'inseparable' despite attempts to distort history
ReutersThe far northwestern region of Xinjiang is an “inseparable” part of China despite efforts by extremists to distort history and facts in a bid to split the country, the Chinese government said in a document published late on Sunday.
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Why are big brands buying into Muslim fashion?
Al JazeeraBurberry, Dolce & Gabbana and DKNY have all attempted to crack one of the fastest-growing markets – Islamic fashion.
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Can an Islamist-Sufi alliance reshape the Middle East?
Middle East EyeIslamists have reached out to those Sufis who are neither allying with authoritarian regimes nor antagonising Islamists, aiming to nurture cooperation.
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I'm A Muslim U.S Marine, And I'm Staying, To Make America Great Again. Just Not The Trump Way
NewsweekMuslim U.S. Marine Corps Veteran and a Member on the Council on Foreign Relations, Mansoor Shams, responds to President Trump’s “go back to where you came from” rhetoric.
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All the president's men: How AKP heavyweights are plotting to challenge Erdogan
Middle East EyeLong simmering behind the scenes, opposition to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan within his own Justice and Development Party (AKP) has finally exploded into the open following the party’s spectacular defeat in last month’s repeat Istanbul mayoral election.
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Why Muslim Fashion is Taking Over the Luxury World
ViceIn recent years, brands such as Zara, Nike, and H&M have directed their lines towards Muslim shoppers. Many more high-end designers have followed suit, looking to gain affluent Muslim shoppers as fans.
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Ignoring good governance in Islamic societies
Asia TimesWithin Western society, there lingers a post-imperial conviction not only that its form of democracy is the best system for the entire world, but also that any country that chooses an alternative path is in some ill-defined way inferior.
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Boris Johnson’s take on Islam is historically illiterate
The GuardianBoris Johnson’s “anti-Islam statements only shore up his political base in the short term, regardless of historical reality,” argues Jerry Brotton, professor of Renaissance studies at Queen Mary University of London.
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What Americans Know About Religion
Pew ResearchU.S. adults generally can answer basic questions about the Bible and Christianity, but are less familiar with other world religions.
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Boris Johnson's ancestral village pledges to sacrifice sheep in his honour
Middle East EyeIn the small village of Kalfat in the heart of Anatolia, residents say they would be more than happy to welcome the British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson by sacrificing sheep in his honour, repainting the buildings in the village, and giving him the full red carpet treatment.
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Ambivalent nativism: Trump supporters’ attitudes toward Islam and Muslim immigration
BrookingsTrump supporters’ suspicions about Muslims were often tied up with broader concerns about immigration from culturally and linguistically different groups who threatened America’s cohesion, George Howley claims.
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'Go pray in the Knesset,' Palestinians tell Saudi on Israeli-sponsored visit
Middle East EyeA Saudi blogger visiting the Old City of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa compound on an Israeli-sponsored visa was chased and driven out by Palestinian residents, who tom him to “Go pray in the Knesset.”
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Islam as a 'floating signifier': Right-wing populism and perceptions of Muslims in Denmark
Brookings“The right-wing populist parties’ representation of the native people as an ethnically and culturally homogeneous and cohesive group takes advantage by constructing Islam as the conflicting other,” Susi Meret and Andreas Beyer Gregersen argue.
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Palestinians drive Saudi man out of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound
Al JazeeraA Saudi man visiting the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem as part of an Israeli-sponsored trip has been driven out of the site by Palestinians.
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'The biggest problem in the Netherlands': Understanding the Party for Freedom’s politicization of Islam
Brookings“The rise of the PVV, FVD, and DENK illustrate the increasing polarization around immigration, integration, Islam and—to various extents—the European Union, which . . . is framed by the PVV as a boon to Islamization,” Koen Damhuis writes.
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Senior Leeds Imam Qari Asim MBE enlisted by Government to tackle Islamophobia
Leeds LiveThe British Government has enlisted the help of a senior Leeds Imam to battle Islamophobia by coming up with an effective definition.
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Imaginary Muslims: How Poland’s populists frame Islam
Brookings“Public opinion polls suggest that Poles hold unfavorable attitudes toward Muslims in general and oppose accepting refugees from the Middle East and Africa,” argue Agnieszka Dudzińska and Michał Kotnarowski.
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Shi'ite protesters clash with Nigeria military, police in Abuja
ReutersNigerian troops and police clashed on Tuesday with Shi’ite Muslim protesters in the capital Abuja and gunfire could be heard, according to a Reuters witness.
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Why Shiite Muslim protesters and Nigeria’s security forces keep clashing
The Washington PostA high-ranking police officer, a journalist and protesters are among the dead after a rally to free a minority religious leader from detention turned violent this week in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, marking another dark chapter in a series of murky confrontations.
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A school board member’s Facebook post suggested his ‘life would be complete’ if Rashida Tlaib died
The Washington PostA 42-year-old school board member from Beachwood, N.J., posted an article to Facebook about Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s (D-Mich.) support of hunger strikes to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement saying “My life would be complete if she/they die.”
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Muslims Over-Represented In State Prisons, Report Finds
NPRMuslims make up about 9% of state prisoners, though they are only about 1% of the U.S. population, a new report from the civil rights organization Muslim Advocates finds.
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Without school, a ‘lost generation’ of Rohingya refugee children face uncertain future
The ConversationThe United Nations Children’s Fund and its partners offer Rohingya refugees aged 4 to 14 two-hour daily lessons on Burmese, English, math and life skills but do not provide the kind of formal education that will allow the children to work toward a high school degree and enter the job market.
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Saudi king hosts 200 from Christchurch shootings for Hajj
ABC4Two-hundred relatives and survivors from the Christchurch mosque shootings will be traveling to Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj as guests of King Salman.
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Saudi Arabia suspends Hajj visas for DR Congo over Ebola
Al JazeeraSaudi Arabia has banned entry to travellers coming from the Democratic Republic of the Congo over fears Ebola could spread during next month’s Hajj pilgrimage.
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In the face of fear and loathing, many British Muslims feel they must play hide and seek with their identity
The ConversationBritish Muslims downplay or hide the Muslim aspects of their character in order to succeed or simply avoid hostility, Bryan Keogh reports.
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First Muslims, now the left: How the UK government has Islamised dissent
Middle East EyeThe document released by the UK Commission for Countering Extremism, titled “Violent extremist tactics and the ideology of the sectarian left” reads more like a textbook of sectarianism than an analysis of its ideas and methods, according to Arzu Merali, a writer and researcher based in London.
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The world knows what is happening to the Uighurs. Why has it been so slow to act?
The GuardianChina is walking a “very deliberate and very careful” line in committing serious human rights abuses against the Uighurs “without perpetrating the sort of physical violence that might attract widespread global condemnation,” Kate Lyons reports.
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The growing threat of sectarianism in Malaysia
Al JazeeraThe recent escalation of tension between Iran and its American and Arab adversaries has stirred sectarian sensitivities not only in the region but also miles away in Southeast Asia, and caused Malaysia, a country with a predominantly Sunni population of 31 million, to once again get sucked into the foreign rivalries.
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Treasury pick Monica Crowley spread Obama smears: 'Can he be both loyal to Islam and loyal to the United States?'
CNNMonica Crowley, who was appointed by Trump last week as assistant treasury secretary for public affairs, made multiple comments spreading false claims that Obama was secretly a Muslim who was sympathetic to America’s enemies on her personal blog and in at least one tweet between 2009 and 2015, according to a review by CNN’s KFile team.
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Ilhan Omar's Defiance Resonates With Muslim-American Activists
VOAU.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar struck a chord with other Muslim Americans when she denounced a perceived assumption that she is reluctant to condemn or sympathetic to terrorism and atrocities committed by Islamic groups.
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President Joko Widodo says Islam in Indonesia is 'tolerant' as rights groups warn of rising fundamentalism
CNNIn his first international television interview since being re-elected in May, Indonesian President Joko Widodo denied being concerned about the rise of fundamentalism in his country, saying that the Islam practiced there is tolerant and progressive.
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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!