In Tel Aviv, Jews join with Muslims in vigil mourning New Zealand dead
Religion News ServiceDozens gathered outside the New Zealand embassy in Tel Aviv Sunday night for a somber candlelight vigil to commemorate the victims of Friday’s (March 15) mass shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Read More
Why Muslims must be at the forefront of fighting anti-Semitism
Al JazeeraProfessor Hamid Dabashi shows that Jews and Muslims are almost identical victims of European racist hatred.
Read More
Why was I asked to condemn Islamist violence days after Christchurch?
The GuardianWhite supremacy fuelled the attack, failing to recognize this lays the groundwork for more violence, writes Latifa Akay.
Read More
Humanise the victims, not the white supremacist who killed them
Al JazeeraThe media-hungry terrorist responsible for the Christchurch shootings does not deserve our attention. His victims do.
Read More
‘Systemic Islamophobia’ fuels terror attacks, say Muslim leaders
The GuardianA letter to Guardian calls for action on bigotry as Lady Warsi demands more security funds for UK mosques.
Read More
Al-Azhar sheikh labels polygamy as unjust, stirs controversy
Al-Monitor“In 90% of cases — and I am not exaggerating — polygamy involves injustice toward the wife, her family, and her children,” Ahmed al-Tayeb said March 1 during his weekly televised interview broadcast.
Read More
Anti-Muslim bigotry cannot go unchecked
The GuardianIn this letter, global Muslim leaders condemn the Christchurch attack and call on authorities to increase efforts to combat Islamophobia.
Read More
It Could Happen Here
The AtlanticAt what point will Americans widely acknowledge that white supremacy can be as big a threat to Americans as Islamism? asks Talal Ansari.
Read More
Opinion// After Christchurch and Pittsburgh, U.S. Jews and Muslims Need Each Other More Than Ever
HaaretzStanding together against a white supremacism that targets us for abuse and death is now, despite the tensions and sensitivities between our communities, not a matter of choice but a necessity, argues Michael Felsen.
Read More
Stories of the victims of the New Zealand mosque attack
AP NewsThis article provides brief but intimate sketches of some of the victims of the Christchurch massacre.
Read More
A Photographer’s Quest to Discover His Nubian Ancestry
The New York TimesAfter his father’s death, photographer Mohamed Altoum went on a journey to understand what it means to be Nubian.
Read More
Volunteers fly in to wash the dead in New Zealand
ReutersThe charity group Brothers in Need has helped bring sixty men from across Australia and New Zealand to help a community overwhelmed by the number of bodies which must be given proper funeral rites.
Read More
China Says 13,000 Xinjiang 'Terrorists' Have Been Arrested Since 2014
TimeChina has arrested nearly 13,000 people it describes as terrorists and has broken up hundreds of “terrorist gangs” in Xinjiang since 2014, the government said in a report Monday issued to counter criticism of internment camps and other oppressive security in the traditionally Islamic region.
Read More
Italy's La Scala Returns Saudi Cash Over Human Rights Concerns
The New York TimesAs acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney insisted during a Fox News interview on Sunday that President Trump was not using his bully pulpit to encourage white nationalism and Islamophobia, the President’s tweets were disagreeing.
Read More
New Zealand has been a home to Muslims for centuries, and will remain so
Middle East EyeThis editorial details analyzes how responses from Muslim communities demonstrate how the people of New Zealand cherish the precious bonds of immense solidarity and citizenship.
Read More
Hundreds of students sing, perform haka at memorial for Christchurch victims
The Washington PostHundreds of high school students gathered March 18 for a candlelight vigil in Hagley Park, directly opposite the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Read More
'Your words matter': Muslim leaders condemn Trump's bigotry after New Zealand attack
Middle East EyeAmid the global rise of white supremacist ideology, Trump’s rhetoric impacts people around the world. CAIR director Nihad Awad has admonished the President and reminded him of the gravity of his words and actions.
Read More
Islamophobia ‘very present on both sides of the aisle,’ Tlaib says
PoliticoIn an interview with CNN, Michigan Democrat Rashida Tlaib warned that all of her colleagues regardless of party or ideology, needed to be careful that their targeting of and disagreements with one another did not feed a growing Islamophobic trend.
Read More
‘This Could Have Been Their 9/11 Moment’
The AtlanticEmma Green says of New Zealand, a generation of young American Muslims is coming of age in a time when a mass shooting at a mosque is horrifying, but not surprising.
Read More
New Zealand was warned a terror attack was possible
Al JazeeraAlexander Gillespie writes for Al Jazeera on how the New Zealand Government ignored his warnings in 2016 that a “lone wolf” mass shooting was possible.
Read More
What is the significance of Friday prayers in Islam?
The ConversationMuslims believe Friday was chosen by God as a dedicated day of worship. In addition to the prayer itself, which is shorter than the usual midday prayers, Friday services include a sermon, usually given by a professional male Muslim clergy member in Muslim majority countries, but in the West, they are also given by a male lay community member.
Read More
When China Convinced the U.S. That Uighurs Were Waging Jihad
The AtlanticIn the chaos surrounding America’s War on Terror, Richard Bernstein says Washington fell for Beijing’s ruse that the embattled Muslim minority posed a threat to the West.
Read More
Money raised for 'Egg Boy' to be donated to New Zealand victims
Al JazeeraA fundraising page says Australian teen William Connolly decided to give majority of the funds raised in his defense after egging a far-right Islamophobic politician to the Christchurch shooting victims.
Read More
Their fellow congregants died in Pittsburgh. Now Jews are supporting Muslims in New Zealand.
The Washington Post“We feel compelled to come to the aid of those communities, just as our Jewish community was so compassionately supported only a few short months ago by people around the world of many faiths, we recall with love the immediate, overwhelming support Tree of Life received from our Muslim brothers and sisters in Pittsburgh.”
Read More
Myanmar court jails Rakhine leader for 20 years on treason charge
Al JazeeraA Myanmar court has sentenced Aye Maung to 20 years in jail for treason, a verdict likely to intensify anger amid fighting between the ethnic group and the army.
Read More
The baffling argument that has become mainstream under Trump: ‘Islam is not a religion’
The Washington PostAnxiety and fear were palpable among American Muslims last week after the mass slaughter in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand: Would a violent attacker enter their mosque, too? But even in their moment of vulnerability, one lawmaker insisted Muslims were the “real cause of bloodshed.” Fraser Anning, a senator in Australia, said the core problem was Islam.
Read More
Leader of Nigel Farage's party resigns over anti-Islam messages
The GuardianThe leader of the new pro-Brexit party backed by Nigel Farage abruptly resigned on Wednesday after the Guardian asked her about a series of deleted anti-Islam Twitter messages sent before she took on the role.
Read More
Iran’s Islamic authorities slowly embrace ancient Festival of Fire
Al-MonitorIn the Islamic Republic’s embrace of both religious and Persian nationalist celebrations it has slowly begun to support an ancient fire ritual.
Read More
Families of Christchurch attack victims bury their loved ones
Al JazeeraFive days after the worst mass shooting in New Zealand’s modern history, the coroner’s office has begun releasing bodies, allowing the families of some of the victims to lay their loved ones to rest.
Read More
Labour formally adopts definition of Islamophobia
The GuardianBritain’s Labour party has formally adopted a definition of Islamophobia, arguing that it is vital to tackling the rise of far-right racism. The definition reads: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.”
Read More
How to move beyond simplistic debates that demonize Islam
The ConversationProfessor Edwina Pio says we can reduce and disrupt Islamophobia through adopting three diversity initiatives.
Read More
Evangelicals and Muslims see similarities in faiths and favor closer ties, survey says
Religion News ServiceAs a growing number of evangelical Christian leaders are working to improve Christian-Muslim relations, a new online study finds that more than 3 in 4 U.S. evangelicals say they never or infrequently interact with Muslims.
Read More
For a peaceful society, Indonesians must stop using the word kafir (infidels) to describe non-Muslims
The ConversationIn a democratic Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim majority country, the use of the word kafir to refer to non-Muslims may result in the latter being treated as second-class citizens. The country’s largest Islamic organization has moved to ban the word. Professor Achmad Munjid analyzes the debate on this issue.
Read More
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!