By ROBERTA FEDELE | ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: During a conversation regarding the venture of Manal Al-Sharif — the 32-year-old computer consultant arrested on May 22 for having uploaded on YouTube a video of herself driving — one young Saudi woman perceptively noticed: “What if all women here were aware of […]
By JULHAS ALAM | AP DHAKA: Bangladesh will retain Islam as the state religion in amendments the government is proposing to its constitution, a government minister said Tuesday. A former military ruler declared Islam the state religion in 1988 by amending the charter, but it barely affected Bangladesh’s secular legal system […]
By Laila Azzeh AMMAN – Around 79 per cent of divorces that occurred last year took place before consummation of the marriage, a study has found. The survey by sociologist Hussein Khazaali, based on official statistics, showed that there are nearly 60,000 marriages registered in the Kingdom each year in […]
MONTREAL — A former Lac St. Louis soccer referee is blowing the whistle on rules she said prevent her from practising her religion. Sarah Benkirane, 15, was told after two years of refereeing for the soccer association that she was out of a job, after a complaint surfaced over her […]
Shape up. That’s the simple message, on the way we treat women, from the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. It’s contained in its “concluding observations and recommendations” published on February 2, following consideration of a report presented in Geneva on January 19 by an 11-member […]
Jakarta – In Yogyakarta, the cultural centre of the island of Java in Indonesia, the governor, Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, has set an interesting precedent by refusing to ban the Ahmadiyah religious group. The group was founded by a 19th century Indian religious leader, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who claimed he was the promised Messiah foretold […]
By ARAB NEWS MADINAH: A murderer was saved seconds before he was due to be beheaded after his victim’s father decided to pardon him. According to a report by local Arabic daily Al-Madinah on Wednesday, Abdul Aziz bin Ibrahim Al-Anzi was brought Tuesday to the execution square in Madinah in […]
By ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: Minister of Justice Muhammad bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa has launched in Jeddah a fingerprinting system to help identify women who appear in court. The procedure is meant to negate the need for women to uncover their faces or bring other men or witnesses for identification purposes. […]
Kāfir Factory – Infidel Factory Last year on Friday, 28th May 2010, the world saw a massacre of innocent Ahmadis in Lahore, Pakistan. A day after a journalist of BBC Urdu, Mohammad Hanif, wrote an article titled “Kafir Factor – Infidel Factory”. In this article he has shown a picture of Pakistani societies […]
by Eveline Kobler, swissinfo.ch The insistence of the Roman Catholic Church that priests have to be male reflects the power of men and not Christian theology, says Swiss theologian Doris Strahm. Strahm is co-author of a recent study into women in leadership roles in the Jewish, Christian and Islamic faiths. […]
By ABDULLAH AL-JAMILI | AL-MADINAH Renowned scholar Sheikh Attieh Salim was one day delivering his religious lessons in the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah, when a man stood up and asked him a question that required fatwa (religious edict). Before answering, the sheikh asked the man: “Where are you from?” The […]
By ADIL SALAHI The Prophet (peace be upon him) often highlighted certain aspects of unfair dealings in order to stress how repugnant they are from the Islamic point of view. Indeed Islam abhors all types of injustice, particularly when it is aimed at the weak and vulnerable. If one is […]
They claim the ruling breaches their human rights and restricts their free movement across countries in the European Union. The pair, who wish to remain anonymous, now live in the West Midlands with their two children, claiming the new law forced them out of their home country. They are seeking […]
Kazakhstan has fined an Ahmadi Muslim community – also denying it the use of its mosque and land – as well as imposed fines of 100 times the minimum monthly wage on two Protestants for religious activity without state permission, Forum 18 News Service has found. One official claimed to Forum 18 […]
Did you know your grandfather Mr Chief Justice? I knew mine rather well for a man with 21 grandchildren. His name was Nasir Ahmed Chaudhry. He lived to be 90-years-old and was a retired Major-General. He was killed on May 28, 2010 in the attack on the Model Town Ahmadi […]
The High Court yesterday asked the government to explain why the section of the eighth amendment to the constitution giving Islam the status of state religion should not be declared illegal. The court appointed 12 senior lawyers as amici curiae (friends of court) to give their opinions on the issue. […]
Last month Malta voted in a referendum to legalize divorce, and will become the last EU country to do so when parliament passes the new law this summer. The young lawyer behind the campaign says it’s high time the heavily Catholic nation joins the modern world. ….. Joining the Modern […]
Iran will lodge a formal complaint to the world football body after its women’s team was barred from playing in an Olympic qualifier for wearing the traditional Islamic head scarf, media reports said Monday. “We will file a complaint against the match’s FIFA organizer to the International Federation of Association […]
By MUHAMMAD AL-SULAMI | ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: The permanent committee for issuing religious edicts, chaired by Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh, has banned the mingling of men and women at offices and educational institutions. “Women are not allowed to work with men. For example, they cannot work as secretaries for […]
By MUHAMMAD AL-SULAMI | ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: The Social Development Forum, opened by Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal on Saturday, discussed a number of new initiatives to boost social development. It also emphasized the need to promote education and volunteer services. There was a special session on the role of […]