United States
Muslim Women Make History In Virginia Elections
Huffington PostGhazala Hashmi, Abrar Omeish, Lisa Zargarpur and Buta Biberaj are among the first Muslims to hold elected office in the state.
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She Doubted Her Place in America. Now She’s Virginia’s First Muslim State Senator
New York TimesIn helping to flip the General Assembly to Democrats, Ghazala Hashmi became part of a wave of Muslim women winning public office.
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Muslim Women Are Claiming Their Rightful Place In America’s Politics
Huffington PostGhazala Hashmi is the first Muslim person elected to Virginia’s state Senate.
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School Leaders in Maryland Ask for No AP Testing on Muslim Holy Day
Washington PostMontgomery County’s Board of Education voted unanimously to notify the College Board of the potential conflict and to ask that no exams be held on the holy day of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan and is one of the Islamic faith’s two major holidays. Since 2016, Montgomery County, which has the state’s largest school system, has given students the day off in years when an Eid holiday falls on a school day.
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Racism at Heart of US Media Coverage of Middle East, Says Marc Lamont Hill
Middle East EyeHill, professor of media studies, drew international headlines last year when he was sacked by CNN after voicing support for Palestine.
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Go Back To Your Country, They Said
Huffington PostThroughout American history, expressions of hate have been punctuated with variations of the same sentiment: Go back to your country. Go back to Africa. Go back to China. Go back to Mexico. It’s a foundational white nationalist insult, meant to threaten a victim into believing that they don’t belong and that this is a country for white people.
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Rumored Expansion of Muslim Travel Ban Exposes Trump’s Election-Year Calculus
Truth OutLate last week, amid the welter of new details surrounding Trump’s now-infamous phone call with the Ukrainian president, Team Trump tried to switch the conversation back to Trump’s home turf: immigrant-bashing and anti-Muslim extremism. Unnamed administration officials let news outlets know that the president was considering expanding his Muslim travel ban to as many as four additional countries.
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‘Beyond the Mosque’: Seeing Islam’s Diversity Reflected in Worship Spaces
Religion NewsFor more than a decade, Rizwan Mawani has been living, working and praying with Muslims in 50 different communities across 17 countries. As you’d expect, he has visited plenty of masjids, as mosques are called in Arabic, meaning “a place of prostration.”
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US Growth of Islam Creates Need for Religious Scholars
The Register CitizenAn increasing number of U.S. Muslims want guidance from religious instructors who they can understand linguistically and culturally.
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Police, FBI Investigating ‘Hate-Filled Flyers’ Found on Western Connecticut State University Campus
Hartford CourantIt was not clear whether a student or “outside agitators” were responsible, but university President John Clark strongly condemned the materials and vowed to enforce the “severest disciplinary actions” regardless of whether students or someone off-campus made the flyers.
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WSU Professor Leads Investigation into Islamophobia Online
Washington State UniversityIn the study, Lawrence Pintak – professor of communications in the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication – and his team examined more than 113,000 tweets posted in the lead-up to the 2018 mid-term election mentioning then-congressional candidates Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Omar Qudrat.
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Ola Salem: Mystery Around Body of Muslim Women's Champion Found in Park
IndependentNo arrests have been made since Ms Salem was found dead in a park on Staten Island.
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United Kingdom
Can Boris Johnson Keep his Seat? A Young Muslim Immigrant is Challenging the British Prime Minister
Washington PostPrime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday launched his Conservative Party’s campaign for the general election. But there’s a hitch. Johnson has to win back his own seat — fending off a challenge from a young Muslim immigrant who represents the Labour Party. It could be a tight race.
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Home Office-backed Counter-extremism Group Waging Twitter Campaign against Corbyn
Middle East EyeFaith Matters, which received support through the UK government’s flagship counter-extremism programme, has described Labour Party under Corbyn as a ‘Stalinist cult’.
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Sajid Javid Condemns Magazine Column Suggesting Muslim People Should Be Deterred from Voting
IndependentChancellor Sajid Javid has denounced a column in news magazine The Spectator suggesting that elections should be held on Muslim holy days in order to deter them from voting. The column, by right-wing controversialist Rod Liddle, was also criticised by the magazine’s own assistant editor as neither “funny or worth writing.”
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My Halal Student Debt: How Muslims Navigate Sharia Financing When Interest Is Haram
MetroWithout Sharia-compliant loans, Muslim students often have to plan meticulously, stashing away their time and money for years to afford an education.
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First Guide for Reporting to Tackle anti Muslim Hate is Published
Evening TimesA guide for media to avoid reporting that can exacerbate hate crime towards Muslims has been published.
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China
Report Blames Major US Corporations for Global Spread of Anti-Muslim Violence
Religion NewsA new report by watchdog groups claims that major technology platforms, Wall Street businesses and right-wing media corporations are complicit in enabling white supremacist and anti-Muslim bigotry across the world.
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How China’s Economic Expansionism Is Contributing to Muslim Persecution
McGill International ReviewIn 2013, China’s incumbent president, Xi Jinping, traveled to both Indonesia and Kazakhstan as part of his mission to layout what would become the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI): a plan to encourage “peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit” spanning 60 countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa through investment and infrastructure development. Shortly thereafter, Amnesty International published their annual report on human rights in China.
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Something Is Rotten in the State of Saudis: Non-Muslim Chinese Allowed Into Mecca
Bitter WinterFrom its foundation, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has enforced a strict policy of forbidding non-Muslims to visit the holy cities of Islam, Mecca and Medina. There are not even exceptions for ambassadors and other foreign dignitaries, unless of course they are Muslims themselves. But now it seems Saudi Arabia is making an exception—for Chinese tourists.
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Germany
This German City Has Declared a 'Nazi Emergency'
ViceMore recently, the anti-Islam street movement Pegida, or Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West, was founded in the city in 2014. The group regularly drew tens of thousands of protesters onto the streets to demonstrate against Muslim immigration.
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Muslim Preachers Must Speak German to Work in the Country under Proposed Law
The TelegraphAll imams who work in Germany will in future have to prove they can speak the German language, under a draft law for religious leaders introduced by the government. The bill, which passed cabinet on Wednesday, means that foreign preachers will only be granted work visas if they can demonstrate basic German. They would then need to show improvements in their language skills after a year in order to prolong their stay.
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Anniversary of Berlin Wall Collapse Marred by Rise of Anti-Muslim Politics
The NationalFormer East Germany sees new divisions decades after reunification.
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France
Nearly Half of France’s Muslim Population Experience Discrimination
Morocco World NewsMost of the incidents happened at police control points, job interviews, and when looking to rent or buy accommodation.
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How A Conspiracy Theory About The Notre Dame Cathedral Led To A Mosque Shooting
Huffington PostDisinformation can bleed into the real world in violent ways. It happened in the French city of Bayonne.
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Islamophobia is on the Rise in France
Al JazeeraThere has been a witch-hunt against Muslims following the stabbing of policemen by a colleague who converted to Islam.
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French Fear and Loathing towards Muslim Women Reveal a Deeper Malaise
Middle East EyeFor those in power to maintain the appearance of having the ‘general will’ behind them, they must harness Islamophobia.
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Bosnia
Bosnia Demands Explanation for Macron’s ‘Time-Bomb’ Remark
Balkan InsightPoliticians and Muslim leaders in Bosnia have reacted with shock to the French President’s claim that the country is a ‘ticking time bomb’ due to the number of returning ISIS fighters – noting that France has exported far more Islamist militants to the Middle East than Bosnia.
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Bosnian Jews, Muslims, Recall Lesson in Tolerance as Extremism Rises
The Jerusalem PostBosnia’s Jews and Muslims on Thursday marked the bicentenary of the rescue of a dozen Jews from an Ottoman-era governor’s jail.
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Bosnian Salafist Preachers Calibrate Message to Growing Audience
Balkan InsightSalafist preachers, or Da’is, are harnessing the power of social media to increase their influence in Bosnia, dialing down their rhetoric but still challenging fundamental rights.
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Australia
Islamophobia on the Rise in Australia
The NationalThe country has seen a steady increase in anti-Muslim sentiment since the 9/11 attacks. Canberra’s top intelligence officer said there was “no doubt” some right-wing extremists have been inspired by the Christchurch mosque attack, and that an attack in Australia by the extreme right is “plausible.”
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Is It OK to Pat a Dog? The Question at the Heart of a Dispute over Islamic Tradition
The NationalFor some Muslims, anxiety upon arrival in Australia derives less from a concern about encountering local authorities and more from a deep-seated fear of dogs.
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Myanmar
'Our Only Aim Is to Go Home': Rohingya Refugees Face Stark Choice
The GuardianWith citizenship in Myanmar still denied, Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh must either live under severe restrictions or move to an isolated island.
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Buddhists Fight Violence against Muslims with Flower Power
LA TimesThe “white rose campaign” soon spread from Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city, to more than 20 mosques and Muslim prayer sites across the country and has become a potent symbol of interfaith relations in a country where few voices speak out against anti-Muslim rhetoric and violence.
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Norway
In Norway, Negative Attitudes Toward Muslims Are Still Widespread
Fair ObserverDespite being a happy, free and affluent country, Norway hasn’t been immune to right-wing extremism that has gained traction in different corners of the world. Corroborated by different investigations and studies, Islamophobia and racism are now serious challenges for the Norwegian society. According to the European Islamophobia Report, 14% of the country’s Muslims experienced harassment in 2017. The same report found that 34% of the population “displays marked prejudices against Muslims.”
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Canada
Quebec’s Values Test Is Dangerous Politics
The Globe and MailQuebec’s “values test” on new immigrants, which begins Jan. 1, may seem harmless, but many racialized, immigrant community members don’t live happily ever after in Quebec – not when xenophobia and Islamophobia permeate people’s lives, often to devastating impact. These types of policies, and the accompanying rhetoric, create an unwelcome atmosphere that has already led some people to leave.
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Mali
Sacred Struggles: How Islam Shapes Politics in Mali
European Council on Foreign RelationsReligious issues and leadership play an increasingly important role in the lives of many Malians, but international actors are ill-equipped to understand and analyse this. Mali’s religious leaders are heterogeneous and defy easy characterisation, often collaborating with one another on important issues, such as public morality and religion’s role in society, even when their practices diverge.
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Indonesia
VP Ma’ruf Calls on Muslims to Increase ‘Zakat’ to Reduce Inequality
The Jakarta PostVice President Ma’ruf Amin has said the zakat, if managed well, will decrease the welfare gap in the country. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 8th World Zakat Forum 2019 in Bandung, West Java, on Tuesday, Ma’ruf said the zakat alms tax, one of the rukun Islam (five pillars of Islam), could have a direct impact on the social and economic condition in Indonesia, where 90 percent of the population is Muslim.
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Art
Libya through Italian Eyes: Colonialism, Fascism and Hidden History
Middle East EyeFilmmakers and artists are exploring a largely neglected history of Italy’s presence in Libya in the 20th century.
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'Every Iran Is Different': The Female Photographers Seeing Their Country with Fresh Eyes
Middle East EyeIranian women artists are exploring their identity by reframing memories in a new US exhibition.
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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!