Prophet’s Mosque expansion work goes apace
Source: Arab news In a race against time, over 6,000 individuals, from engineers to construction workers, are pooling their efforts to complete the expansion of the Prophet’s Mosque. That huge […]
Spain slams move to erase Islamic past of Cordoba cathedral
MADRID: The regional government of southern Andalusia is protesting what it says are moves by the Catholic Church to downplay or eliminate references to the Islamic past of Cordoba’s ancient […]
Stop asking Muslims to condemn terrorism. It’s bigoted and Islamophobic.
There’s a certain ritual that each and every one of the world’s billion-plus Muslims, especially those living in Western countries, is expected to go through immediately following any incident of violence involving a Muslim perpetrator. It’s a ritual that is continuing now with the Sydney hostage crisis, in which a deranged self-styled sheikh […]
Map shows world’s ‘most racist’ countries (and the answers may surprise you)
Mail Online: by Hugo Gye — Jordan and India named the world’s least tolerant countries U.S., Britain, Canada and South America are among the least racist Survey asks people if they would want neighbours of a different race Britain is one of the most racially tolerant countries on the planet, […]
Can Muslim Youth Counter Extremism?
Huff Post: by Amaar Ahmad — The recent Senate Report on the use of torture by the CIA will no doubt be used by Muslim extremists to conclude that the US is indeed waging a war against Muslims. It may provide such groups further propaganda material to radicalize Muslim youth […]
Ahmadiyya Muslims back Australian drive against jihadist radicalisation
The Australian News: by Rowan Callick — Mirza Ramzan Sharif is the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association’s external affairs secretary. AUSTRALIA’S Islamic community “must ask with one voice if it is doing […]
Russia raises key interest rate to 17% amid rouble decline
The Russian central bank has announced it is hiking its key interest rate to 17% from 10.5%. The bank said the move was to try to ease the rouble’s recent […]
#illridewithyou: Australians support Muslim neighbors during Sydney hostage crisis
As the Sydney hostage crisis continues to unfold, thousands of Australians have joined a spontaneous movement of solidarity with the country’s Muslims. Using the hashtag #illridewithyou, people from around the country have offered solidarity (as well as rides) to Muslim Australians who might otherwise feel uncomfortable or unsafe wearing religious […]
The European country that cares the least about Christmas
Despite Britain seemingly going into festive lockdown from about 3 October every year, our cross-Channel neighbours are far less enthusiastic about Christmas. This chart from Statista, using data collated by YouGov, shows that the people of France are, by quite some way, the most apathetic about Noël. When asked whether […]
Robert Fisk on the CIA ‘torture report’: Once again language is distorted in order to hide US state wrongdoing. Perhaps Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told his torturers he could fly through the air
Thank God for Noam Chomsky. Not for his lifetime of eviscerating assaults on our political hypocrisy, but for his linguistics. Long before I knew him, undergraduate Fisk laboured at his university linguistics course, where Chomsky’s work first alerted me to the pernicious use of language. Hence I condemn at once […]
Qur’an lesson for today: 320. Commandment – make not unlawful the good things which Allah has made lawful for you
320. Commandment – make not unlawful the good things which Allah has made lawful for you [5:88] O ye who believe! make not unlawful the good things which Allah has made lawful for you, and do not transgress. Surely, Allah loves not the transgressors. [7:33] Say, ‘Who has forbidden the adornment of Allah […]
Qur’an lesson for today: 321. Commandment – eat and drink but exceed not the bounds (be moderate in eating)
321. Commandment – eat and drink but exceed not the bounds (be moderate in eating) [7:32] O children of Adam! look to your adornment at every time and place of worship, and eat and drink but exceed not the bounds; surely, He does not love those who exceed the bounds. […]
Qur’an lesson for today: 322. Commandment – be moderate in spending
322. Commandment – be moderate in spending [25:68] And those who, when they spend, are neither extravagant nor niggardly but moderate between the two;
UK Women News: Saudi Cleric Says Women Are not required to Wear Hijab
Saudi Cleric Says Women Are not required to Wear Hijab, Can Put Makeup Around 5,000 Yazidi women and girls have been kidnapped by IS militants, who sell them as sex slaves ‘Saudi Cleric Says Women Are not required to Wear Hijab, Can Put Makeup Dec […]
There Was a Big Bang for Birds: A sweeping new study tells a long genetic tale
Time: If there’s a factory where birds are built, the workers were clearly smoking something the day they designed the hummingbird. And the ostrich. And the toucan. Imagine, too, the pitch meeting for the parrot, (“Let’s make this one talk!”), or the peacock (“So we got this crate of feathers…”). Of […]
New York Archdiocese Appears Likely to Shutter More Churches
Source:N Y Times: The sweeping reorganization of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, set to take effect next year, is likely to involve the merger or the closing of significantly more parishes than was originally announced last month, archdiocese documents show. Church officials said in November that 112 of the […]
Hostage taker in Australia’s demands: ISIS flag, talk to Aussie PM
http://www.cnn.com/video/api/embed.html#/video/world/2014/12/15/bpr-coren-australia-hostage-situation-sydney.cnn 5 people have fled from Sydney cafe A hostage taker in a Sydney cafe has contacted three media outlets via the hostages. An unknown number of people remain captive. FULL […]
Sorry, Internet: Pope Francis Didn’t Open Paradise to Pets
Source: The Daily Beast But Pope Paul VI did, decades ago. This internet rumor isn’t true, but the Catholic Church really has done hard thinking about animal souls. This week […]
UK torture inquiry could summon Blair and Straw
Epigraph: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Source: The Guardian By Rowena Mason […]