Sri Lanka bans face veils after attacks by Islamist militants
ReutersAuthorities in Sri Lanka on Monday banned women from wearing face veils under an emergency law put in place after deadly Easter Sunday attacks by Islamist militants.
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Among Displaced Iraqis, One Group Is Worse Off Than the Rest
Foreign PolicyThousands of Iraqis with perceived family ties to the Islamic State are facing extreme poverty and abuse in displacement camps across the country, with little or no chance of returning home.
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Trump working to designate Muslim Brotherhood as 'terror' group
Al JazeeraThe Trump administration is working to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign “terrorist” organisation, the White House said on Tuesday, which would bring sanctions against Egypt’s oldest Islamist movement.
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Halima Aden Wears Hijab and Burkini in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue
The IndependentFor the publication’s yearly swimsuit issue, the Muslim model travelled to Watamu Beach, Kenya, the country of her birth. The 21-year-old was born at the Kakuma refugee camp, before moving to the United States at the age of seven, according to SI.
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Allegations of mass voter exclusion cast shadow on India election
Al JazeeraActivists say 40 million Muslims and 30 million Dalits not on electoral rolls, raising fears of targeted suppression.
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Tunisia invokes sharia law in bid to shut down LGBT rights group
The GuardianDespite pressure, the country’s LGBT community is thriving. In January 2018, Tunisia held its first LGBT film festival in the capital, Tunis, organised by the group Mawjoudin (We Exist).
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Trump pressed to punish Saudi Arabia over religious intolerance
Al MonitorA federal panel led in part by conservative Christians close to the Donald Trump administration is pressing the president to penalize Saudi Arabia for its religious discrimination following the mass execution of 37 prisoners, most of them members of the kingdom’s minority Shiite population.
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Iraq says I.S. remains threat, leader Baghdadi filmed video in 'remote area'
ReutersIslamic State remains a potent threat around the world despite reduced capabilities, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said on Tuesday, adding its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had made his latest video appearance in a “remote area”.
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Shutting down social media does not reduce violence, but rather fuels it
The ConversationUnder a blackout, each successive day of protest had more violence than would typically happen as a protest unfolded with continued internet access.
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Asma Uddin: If we deprive Islam of its status as a religion, all religion is threatened
Religion News ServiceSome on the far right in the United States deny that Islam is a real religion. Theologians of different stripes have made this claim in the battle for religious supremacy, but recently it has become a legal argument made to deny Muslim Americans their right to religious freedom.
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Mozambique church a refuge for Muslim cyclone survivors
AP NewsSituated in the heart of Pemba, a predominantly Muslim but diverse city ravaged by Cyclone Kenneth, the Maria Auxiliadora parish houses those displaced by the storm in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique’s northernmost province.
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Syria's lost heritage stands out in Aleppo's broken minarets
ReutersThe U.N. cultural agency UNESCO in December said 10 percent of Aleppo’s historic buildings were destroyed and more than half the buildings they assessed showed severe to moderate damage.
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Anti-Muslim hate is driven by politics, not faith — and it’s preventable, study suggests
Religion News ServiceAccording to the American Muslim poll survey, Muslims remain the most likely group to report experiencing religious discrimination. The report suggests that Jews scored the lowest anti-Muslim sentiment, while Christian evangelicals scored the highest.
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Islam, made in France? Debating the reform of Muslim organizations and foreign funding for religion
BrookingsSince the 1980s, French governments have tried and failed to fully integrate French Muslims and, increasingly, to fight extremism and radicalization.
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Fighting for the Soul of Islam in Sri Lanka
The New York TimesOver the last thirty years, Sri Lanka’s Muslim community has been transformed by the spread of Salafi and Wahhabi ideologies by workers and students returning from the Arabian Peninsula, forcing traditional groups including Sufis to the margins or underground.
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Sudan: what future for the country’s Islamists?
The GuardianIn the aftermath of the fall of Omar al-Bashir on 11 April, the role of Sudan’s Islamist parties, some of whom long sustained his regime, has been placed increasingly under a spotlight.
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‘Police cloud’: Chinese database tracks apps, car location and even electricity usage in Muslim region
The Washington PostChinese authorities in the western Xinjiang are creating a comprehensive database that tracks the movements, along with mobile app usage, electricity, and gasoline consumption of people in the heavily Muslim region
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China is punishing Muslims for fasting. So US Muslims are fasting from China.
Religion News ServiceThis Ramadan, human rights groups and Muslim organizations are urging U.S. Muslims to boycott products made in China, where authorities have for years cracked down on Muslims fasting.
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Experts warn against Trump designating Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization
NBC NewsWhite House officials are weighing whether to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organization — a move experts warn would make the United States less safe and end up victimizing American Muslims to curry favor with authoritarian allies.
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Don't blame Muslims for the crimes of white supremacists
Al JazeeraThe American right is systematically trying to cover up far-right crimes by focusing attention on the Muslim community.
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Malaysia's first female top judge is 'big step' for women's justice
ReutersMalaysia has appointed their first female judge, hoping to reform the country’s judiciary and improve the low conviction rates for crimes against women.
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Australian prime minister rejects candidate’s Islam posts
AP NewsAustralia’s prime minister said his Liberal Party rejected the anti-Muslim views of an election candidate who on Friday became the third to lose the conservative party’s endorsement in as many days over social media postings.
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The Lutheran pastor says Easter sermon about ‘violent Muslim purge’ was misunderstood
Religion News ServiceOn Easter Sunday, Rev. Carl Johnson told his Lutheran congregation that he wanted to confess his sins. In particular: his wish that Muslims — who he fears will take over France — would be expelled from France in the wake of the Notre Dame fire.
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U.S. mosques see heightened security concerns for Ramadan
The Washington PostA string of recent high-profile attacks on houses of worship, including one in March in Christchurch, New Zealand, that killed 51 Muslim worshipers, has led more U.S. mosques this year to take up the topic of security.
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More Latinos are becoming Muslims: ‘Islam is not as foreign as you think’
The Philadelphia InquirerIn 2009, only 1 percent of Muslims identified as Hispanic. By 2018, it was 7 percent, according to its annual report, “American Muslim Poll: Predicting and Preventing Islamophobia.” There are 250,000 Latino Muslims in the United States, according to Islam in Spanish.
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Ramadan 2019: Why is it so important for Muslims?
Al JazeeraThis year Ramadan begins on Monday, May 6.
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Iran’s spiritual power play
The Washington PostIran’s religious leaders have been moving to expand their influence over the Shiite Muslim establishment in neighboring Iraq in a gamble aimed at gaining sway over Iraq’s largest religious group.
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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!