Islam in Media Roundup | 4 May – 10 May 2020

International

What It's Like for Muslim Essential Workers to Fast During the Coronavirus

What It's Like for Muslim Essential Workers to Fast During the Coronavirus

BuzzFeed News

Nearly 40 people around the world told BuzzFeed News that Ramadan is hammering home their isolation during the pandemic: They miss friends, family, and their mosques.
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Is There a Difference Between a Niqab and a Face Mask?

Is There a Difference Between a Niqab and a Face Mask?

Open Democracy

The prevalence of face masks to fight the COVID-19 pandemic might help spark a more constructive conversation on the niqab.
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The Uyghur Diaspora: “Anything We Do to Keep Our Culture Alive Is a Form of Resistance…”

The Uyghur Diaspora: “Anything We Do to Keep Our Culture Alive Is a Form of Resistance…”

Amaliah

Hana Manadath profiles four individuals fighting to keep the Uyghur culture alive through food and fashion as well as those doing advocacy work to bring further awareness to the situation.
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How a 10th-Century Muslim Surgeon Revolutionised Surgical Procedures

How a 10th-Century Muslim Surgeon Revolutionised Surgical Procedures

TRT World

The translations of Al Zahrawi’s work on surgeries were taught in European universities for several centuries.
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The Rohingya, Uyghurs, Shiites, the Ahmedis and the Homosexual: a Warning to British Muslims

The Rohingya, Uyghurs, Shiites, the Ahmedis and the Homosexual: a Warning to British Muslims

Byline Times

Shahmir Sanni explains how the only way Muslims can defeat the far-right who demonize them is by joining forces with the LGTBQ community.
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Keir Starmer Shifts Labour Party Policy on Kashmir in Bid to Woo Indian Voters

Keir Starmer Shifts Labour Party Policy on Kashmir in Bid to Woo Indian Voters

Middle East Eye

Following a meeting with Labour Friends of India, Starmer says conflict is ‘bilateral issue for India and Pakistan’.
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'The Game': The Gamble Bangladeshis Take in Libya to Reach Europe

'The Game': The Gamble Bangladeshis Take in Libya to Reach Europe

Middle East Eye

With few work opportunities at home, many Bangladeshis look to escape poverty by undertaking a long and dangerous journey in the hands of traffickers.
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COVID-19 Restricts Africa's Ramadan Routine

COVID-19 Restricts Africa's Ramadan Routine

DW Akademie

Africa’s measures to slow down COVID-19 have changed how the holy month of Ramadan is observed, restricting Muslims to their homes. Previously, followers of Islam prayed in mosques and broke the daily fast together.
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Amid the Coronavirus, Bailing out Mosques Is Essential

Amid the Coronavirus, Bailing out Mosques Is Essential

Al Jazeera

Mosques provide important community services that are needed now more than ever, but many may not survive without help.
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United States

15 Funerals a Day: The Pace of Death Stuns Brooklyn Muslims

15 Funerals a Day: The Pace of Death Stuns Brooklyn Muslims

The New York Times

Al-Rayaan Muslim Funeral Services has turned to family members and fellow mourners to offer prayers and move bodies.
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Muslims Observing Ramadan Are Providing Critical Coronavirus Relief

Muslims Observing Ramadan Are Providing Critical Coronavirus Relief

Vice

Inspired by Ramadan, several Muslim organizations and individuals are donating their time and money to aid those hit hard by COVID-19.
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Scottsdale Community College Apologizes for Discriminatory Islamic Questions on Quiz

Scottsdale Community College Apologizes for Discriminatory Islamic Questions on Quiz

YourValley.net

Public outcry calls for serious collegiate repercussions.
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I’m Spending This Ramadan in a Hospital Emergency Room. It Feels Just Like Home

I’m Spending This Ramadan in a Hospital Emergency Room. It Feels Just Like Home

The Washington Post

How to be Muslim and Indian and American all at once, during a pandemic.
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How Pittsburgh's Muslim Community Is Celebrating Ramadan During Coronavirus

How Pittsburgh's Muslim Community Is Celebrating Ramadan During Coronavirus

Pittsburgh's City Paper

After a week operating with almost a dozen of his workers staying home due to coronavirus protections, Abdullah Salem started to debate whether he should temporarily close his restaurant and grocery.
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Leading Muslim Civil Rights Group Calls for Justice Over 'Modern-Day Lynching' of Unarmed Black Jogger

Leading Muslim Civil Rights Group Calls for Justice Over 'Modern-Day Lynching' of Unarmed Black Jogger

The New Arab

A leading American Muslim civil rights group has called for the immediate arrest of two men who allegedly shot Ahmaud Arbery, 25, as he jogged through his neighborhood in Georgia.
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New York Muslims Raise Concerns About Substandard Ramadan Meals

New York Muslims Raise Concerns About Substandard Ramadan Meals

Middle East Eye

Some meals distributed to Muslim residents across city were military rations from US defense contractor.
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Canada

Tensions Erupt in Canadian City Over Broadcast of Muslim Call to Prayer

Tensions Erupt in Canadian City Over Broadcast of Muslim Call to Prayer

Middle East Eye

Far-right activists have demanded decision be reversed, while open letter equates Adhan with slogans used by Islamic State group.
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Islamophobia Heard Loud and Clear in Canada's Adhan Controversy

Islamophobia Heard Loud and Clear in Canada's Adhan Controversy

The Middle East Eye

Cities exempting mosques from noise bylaws to allow the call to prayer during Ramadan have sparked a backlash in some quarters.
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Senegal

To Halt COVID Spread, Senegal Launches Bread Delivery During Ramadan

To Halt COVID Spread, Senegal Launches Bread Delivery During Ramadan

VOA News

During the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Muslims in Senegal usually rush to the bakeries in the afternoon to buy bread for breaking the daily fast. That habit risked spreading the coronavirus. To reduce the risk, the government has banned the sale of bread at shops and launched a delivery program.
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Somalia

Un: Somalia Faces Dire Threats From Conflict, Natural Disasters, COVID

Un: Somalia Faces Dire Threats From Conflict, Natural Disasters, COVID

VOA News

The U.N. The High Commissioner for Refugees is appealing for strong International support to help millions of Somalis facing a growing number of catastrophic threats from conflict, natural disasters and the potential spread of COVID-19.
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Burkina Faso

'COVID-19 Changed Everything': Ramadan for IDPs in Burkina Faso

'COVID-19 Changed Everything': Ramadan for IDPs in Burkina Faso

Al Jazeera

With pandemic disrupting supply chains, thousands displaced by war struggle with lack of food during Muslim holy month.
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United Kingdom

After Coronavirus, Black and Brown People Must Be at the Heart of Britain's Story

After Coronavirus, Black and Brown People Must Be at the Heart of Britain's Story

The Guardian

Ethnic minorities’ war and postwar efforts were erased. Today, as our doctors and nurses give their lives, we cannot have a repeat.
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UK Muslim, 100, Walks Garden Laps for Virus Victims While Fasting

UK Muslim, 100, Walks Garden Laps for Virus Victims While Fasting

Al Jazeera

Inspired by Tom Moore, Dabirul Choudhury raises tens of thousands for coronavirus victims from the UK to Bangladesh.
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London Mosques Broadcast Adhan Publicly for Ramadan During Coronavirus Lockdown

London Mosques Broadcast Adhan Publicly for Ramadan During Coronavirus Lockdown

Arab News

Mosques in the east London borough of Waltham Forest have started broadcasting the adhan (call to prayer) publicly during Ramadan to help Muslims stay connected to their places of worship during the coronavirus lockdown.
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France

French Muslims Face a Cruel Coronavirus Shortage: Burial Grounds

French Muslims Face a Cruel Coronavirus Shortage: Burial Grounds

The New York Times

For many immigrant families, the pandemic has halted the tradition of repatriating bodies to their country of origin, and finding a plot in France has become ever more difficult.
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France Mandates Masks to Control the Coronavirus. Burqas Remain Banned.

France Mandates Masks to Control the Coronavirus. Burqas Remain Banned.

The Washington Post

France, the originator of the burqa ban, has done more than any other Western nation over the past decade to resist face coverings in public. But as the country begins to emerge from its coronavirus lockdown Monday, masks are mandatory.
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Germany

Germany: Muslims Ready to Go Back to Mosques

Germany: Muslims Ready to Go Back to Mosques

Anadolu Agency

After 2 months of coronavirus lockdown, mosques throughout country will reopen this weekend.
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Mosque, Social Center in Germany’s Cologne Attacked

Mosque, Social Center in Germany’s Cologne Attacked

Daily Sabah

Several people attacked a mosque and a social center of the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DİTİB) in Germany’s Cologne Saturday morning – a day before places of worship were planned to be reopened in light of the easing of measures to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus.
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Norway

Suspect Claims Norway Mosque Attack Was 'Emergency Justice'

Suspect Claims Norway Mosque Attack Was 'Emergency Justice'

ABC News

A Norwegian man suspected of killing his ethnic Chinese stepsister and then opening fire in an Oslo mosque says he acted out of “emergency justice.”
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Austria

From Celebration to Crisis: The Austrian Chancellor of Exclusion

From Celebration to Crisis: The Austrian Chancellor of Exclusion

Daily Sabah

In his late 20s, Sebastian Kurz started his career as the secretary of integration affairs in an unusual and fresh way, speaking of migration in a rather positive manner. But soon after grabbing power, he became a societal splitter, excluding people of color. This is especially true for Austria’s Muslim population.
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China

His Dictionaries Taught Chinese to the Uyghur World. Then He Was Taken Away

His Dictionaries Taught Chinese to the Uyghur World. Then He Was Taken Away

Sup China

Hüsenjan was a Chinese state employee — and member of the Chinese Communist Party — tasked with creating dictionaries for the Uyghur language. His work couldn’t save him.
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A Lost ‘Little Africa’: How China, Too, Blames Foreigners for the Virus

A Lost ‘Little Africa’: How China, Too, Blames Foreigners for the Virus

The New York Review of Book

In this pandemic, we have quickly become acquainted with a new form of witnessing, one that is both more collective and more remote than ever. From our various isolated “indoors,” blue LED screens have formed small portals into violence, beauty, tragedy, and nonsense. More than ever, we exist “in the discourse.
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India

The Coronavirus Pandemic Intensifies Islamophobia in India

The Coronavirus Pandemic Intensifies Islamophobia in India

Global Voices

“Even a global pandemic cannot end religious hatred”
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Why Gulf States Are Backtracking on India

Why Gulf States Are Backtracking on India

Foreign Policy

Islamophobia is undoing years of New Delhi’s diplomatic gains in the Middle East.
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Hundreds of Rohingya Refugees Stuck at Sea With ‘Zero Hope’

Hundreds of Rohingya Refugees Stuck at Sea With ‘Zero Hope’

The New York Times

At least three boats carrying Rohingya refugees have been adrift for more than two months. As of this week, rights groups that had been tracking the boats lost sight of them.
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Bangladesh

Bangladesh Lifts Curbs on Mosque Prayers as Lockdown Eases

Bangladesh Lifts Curbs on Mosque Prayers as Lockdown Eases

The Tribune

Bangladesh on Thursday allowed Muslims to attend prayer congregations in mosques as the government continues to ease the lockdown restrictions amid the coronavirus outbreak which has infected 12,425 people in the country so far.
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Kuwait

Marriage, Materialism, and the Macabre: Meet Kuwait's New Generation of Artists

Marriage, Materialism, and the Macabre: Meet Kuwait's New Generation of Artists

Middle East Eye

The Gulf state’s younger generation is shaping one of the oldest art scenes in the region.
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Israel/Palestine

Ramadan Roles Help the Unemployed in Gaza

Ramadan Roles Help the Unemployed in Gaza

Arab News

Ramadan is a way for struggling Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to earn an income and at the same time bring a festive touch to the month of fasting.
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Iran

Sanctions Make Iran's Coronavirus Crisis More Deadly

Sanctions Make Iran's Coronavirus Crisis More Deadly

Al Jazeera

In the face of this global threat, the US should abandon its maximum pressure strategy against Iran and lift sanctions.
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Afghanistan

Taliban Reaches out to Shias

Taliban Reaches out to Shias

The Hindu

Ahead of intra-Afghan talks, the Sunni insurgency asks Shias to join the fight against the ‘invaders’.
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Pakistan

In Pakistan, Mosques Become Coronavirus Battleground Issue

In Pakistan, Mosques Become Coronavirus Battleground Issue

Al Jazeera

Tens of thousands of mosques across the country were reopened late last month, despite the coronavirus pandemic.
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Shia Clerics Insist on Bringing out Processions

Shia Clerics Insist on Bringing out Processions

DAWN

Several Shia groups have conveyed to the government that they will bring out processions to commemorate the martyrdom of Hazrat Ali and it cannot ban them.
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HRW Slams Exclusion of Ahmadis From Pakistan Minority Commission

HRW Slams Exclusion of Ahmadis From Pakistan Minority Commission

Al Jazeera

HRW calls exclusion of Ahmadiyya from commission ‘absurd’, while sect leaders warn it could lead to greater persecution.
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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!