‘Every Muslim is A Bit of A Salafist’: Rotterdam Mayor
NLTimesProviding heterodox definitions of jihad and salafism, Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb of Rotterdam describes these 2 religious concepts as integral to himself and every Muslim. Right-wing leader Geert Wilders called for Aboutaleb’s resignation due to his remarks.
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Hadi Being Dangerous and Racist with Muslim-Only Cabinet Call, Says Guan Eng
The Malaysian Insight‘Hadi’s exclusive Malay-Muslim cabinet is clearly unconstitutional, as it reduces non-Malays and non-Malay Muslims to citizens of inferior status with diminished rights’ remarked political leader Guan Eng on Hadi’s proposal for a homogenous cabinet.
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Saudi Arabia Hosts World Chess Games, Testing Reform Limits
AP NewsSaudi Arabia, for the first time, will be hosting a world chess tournament among 240 within two years of the country’s top religious cleric discouraging the game.
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Burundi: Muslim Group Translates Quran Into Kirund
Daily SabahA Burundian Muslim association has translated the Holy Quran into Kirundi, one of the two official languages of the East African country, a religious leader told Anadolu Agency (AA) Tuesday.
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Haj Mehram Rule Change Leads to Sharp Rise in Female Applicants
India.comAfter allowing women to participate in the Haj without a male guardian, the Indian government saw a sharp increase in the volume of rural, female applicants.
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Tajikistan Bans Low-Income Citizens from Hajj Pilgrimage
Ahlul Bayt News AgencyFollowing a trend of tight religious controls, the Tajik government will be preventing poorer and younger Muslims from attending the Hajj pilgrimage to help curb poverty, radicalization, and encourage older participants to go.
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Egypt Will Try To Convince National Team Not To Fast During Ramadan, Football Chief Says
Daily SabahCiting physiological reasons, Egyptian Football Association will try to convince its national team’s players not to fast during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan due to its participation in the 2018 World Cup, the body’s chief Abo Rida said in an interview published Wednesday.
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Turkey's Religious Institute 'issues fatwa stating man can divorce wife by saying he sees her as Mother or Daughter'
The Independent UKIf a man refers to his wife as “mother” or “sister” their marriage should be deemed divorced, Turkey’s religious state institution has decreed, according to a report from Hurriyet, the country’s leading newspaper.
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Bump, Tumble, Go Faster! In Egypt, Roller Derby Is Real Life
The New York TimesOffering both enjoyment and empowerment for women, Roller Derby is gaining popularity among students and young professional women in Cairo.
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Tehran Police to End Arrests for Breaching ‘Islamic Values’
The Wall Street JournalAuthorities in Tehran will no longer arrest people for breaches of Islamic codes, the Iranian capital’s police chief said Wednesday, a sign of easing social strictures under relatively moderate President Hassan Rouhani.
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Islamophobia Even Worse Under Trump Than After 9/11 Attacks, says Top Muslim Activist
The Independent UKDue to social and religious tensions worsened by the Trump Presidency, ‘it’s fair to say that 2017 is gearing to be the worst year on record for incidents of anti-Muslim bias since we began our current system of documentation,’ said research and advocacy coordinator Zainab Arain.
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Deadly Attack at Kabul Cultural Center is Latest in Terrorist Campaign Against Shiites
The Washington PostIn the latest attack in a terrorist campaign against the minority ethnic Shiite community that has intensified over the past two years, suicide bombers killed over Forty people at an Iranian Shiite culture center.
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Is It Time to Look Beyond the Idea of Liberal Islam?
AeonAn intellectually rigid premise, Liberal Islam must first find a way of accommodating difference, dissent, heterodoxy and heresy to provide meaningful change, empowerment, and solution to the disenfranchisement of Islam and Muslims.
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Iran Police Taking Softer Line on Islamic Codes: Chief
The Daily Star LebanonRemarking ‘it is not the police’s duty to enforce Islam,’ Iranian police are taking a softer approach to breaches of Islamic rules, opting for education over punishment, Tehran’s police chief said Wednesday.
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American Isis Fighter says 'war on Islam' has made US more vulnerable to attack in video Message to Donald Trump
The Independent UKCiting President Trump as encouraging Islamophobia through anti-Islam rhetoric, an ISIS militant alleges that the President is making the US more vulnerable to attacks and atrocities.
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The Comics Writer Who Wants More Authentic Female Muslim Superheroes
Vice MotherboardSeeing a staunch misrepresentation of Muslims at large, comic scholar Safiyya Hosein argues that the art form needs better depictions of Muslims to positive and realistic sights of Islam and Muslims.
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Anti-Sharia Laws Proliferate as Trump Strikes Hostile Tone Toward Muslims
The Guardian UKAlienation Muslim communities through policy and political language, anti-sharia legislation is spreading in state legislatures across the US, as Trump’s hostile stance towards Muslims emboldens right-wing Islamophobes.
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How America is Transforming Islam
The AtlanticU.S. Muslims are going through a process that’s quintessentially American: finding new, diverse, self-constructed identities in their faith, ranging from fully secular to deeply pious and are creating distinctively American forms of their religion.
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Muslim Student Beaten in UK After Wishing ‘merry Christmas’
Daily SabahAfter being harassed for his national origin in a Durham pub, a Palestinian student was attacked by three men after wishing them a Merry Christmas and trying to escape.
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Aina Gamzatova: The Muslim Woman Challenging Putin
AlJazeeraAina Gamaztova, a Sufi, Russian woman from Dagestan made her candidacy against incumbent President Putin official in a stance against the political and economic unhappiness felt under Putin’s regime
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Witnesses: Residents Prevented Much Worse Attack in Egyp
AP NewsPainting a picture of Christian-Muslim unity in the face of danger, reports find that the intervention of witnesses and bystanders saved dozens of lives in an attack on a Christian Church.
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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!