Month: October 2011

Iqama on arrival at airport planned

By P.K. ABDUL GHAFOUR | ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: The Passport Department (Jawazat) has plans to issue iqamas (residency permits) to expatriate workers on arrival at the airport, the department’s chief said. “This can be achieved by setting up an integrated electronic system,” said Lt. Gen. Salim Al-Belaihed, adding that the […]

1000 liter ‘Tea Pot’ for Haj use

by BADEA ABU AL-NAJA | ARAB NEWS MAKKAH: An engineer working for the Tawafa Establishment for South Asian Pilgrims has developed an electric heater that can boil up to 1,000 liters of water to make tea and other hot drinks. While commending the efforts of Abdul Aziz Mahboub, electrical engineer […]

A history of religious violence

Source/Credit: Dawn.com The killing of 13 Shia Muslims in Quetta today is a grim reminder of how intolerant Pakistan has become when it comes to religious freedom. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s report ‘State of Human Rights in 2010’, 418 people have been killed in various attacks on Muslim sects, including 211 in […]

Banon alleged sexual assault case against Strauss-Kahn dropped

  By RFI French prosecutors have dropped the sexual assault case brought against former IMF chief Dominque Strauss-Kahn by French writer Tristane Banon. They said they had prima facie evidence that a sexual assault took place, but the case was too old to prosecute. More:  http://www.english.rfi.fr/france/ 20111013-banon-alleged-sexual-assault-case-against-strauss-kahn-dropped  

The pact of Hudaibya

Source: Dawn Author: Nilofar Ahmed SOME time after the migration of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and his followers to Madina, the Makkans banned the entry of the believers in Makkah, even for the purposes of Haj or umrah. The Muslims yearned to visit the Kaaba to perform the pilgrimage. After about […]

Blasphemy Law: Coming a full circle

Source: Dawn.Com It was bound to happen. When you have a vaguely worded law with so many loopholes, and a clergy hell bent on defining religion in asphyxiating, rigid boundaries, its supporters and enablers were bound to get scorched themselves. The law was eventually going to come and bite them […]

Bekasi municipality officially bans Ahmadiyyah

Hans David Tampubolon, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta The Bekasi municipality has officially banned the religious practice of the Ahmadiyah sect on Thursday, a move pluralists deemed as the legitimation of a violation of the spirit of the Constitution. The head of the Bekasi Agency for State Unity, Politics and Community […]

Defining “Cult,” Defining “Christian”

Source/Credit: Religion Dispatches By Joseph Laycock Last weekend, pastor Robert Jeffress found himself in political quicksand when he called Mormonism a cult. Scholars of Mormonism along with evangelicals and progressive Christians responded that Mormonism is a legitimate faith and not a cult. But by debating whether Mormonism is a cult, […]

Intolerance in the curriculum

Source/Credit: The News (International) By Kamila Hyat There have been several shocking incidents over the past week or so that go only to highlight the kind of intolerance we are facing in our society and the manner in which this is spreading. Worst of all the spirit of hatred has […]