Calling the Faithful to Freedom!

“Khankan says she is not challenging the Quran, just rewriting a male-dominated way of worship … ‘by promoting and disseminating new narratives, with a focus on gender equality. It’s not a reform. We’re going back to the essence of Islam’”: ‘We’re Going Back to the Essence of Islam’: The Rise of Women’s Mosques in US…

John Bolton threatens to “use any means necessary” to insulate Israel and the U.S. from what others see as the “recourse for victims of genocide and other war crimes in lawless countries.” offered by the ICC’s “court of last resort [that] seeks to complement, not replace, national courts” … Trump Administration to Sanction International Criminal Court,…

Trump thinks he can get Palestinians to accept apartheid by “cutting money to cover cancer treatments and other critical care for Palestinians at Jerusalem hospitals” … New Cuts in Medical Aid to Palestinians by Trump Administration (NPR) … but instead it will stoke the resistance … Palestinians Warn of Far-reaching Repercussions of US Decision to…

“Israel’s new Nation State Law … has already increased the discrimination against Palestinians in Israel to absurd levels: they’re being prohibited from raising chickens, planting potatoes, gathering traditional herbs. Small sewing and knitting factories are being closed down”: Israeli Racism – Legalized and Running Rampant (If Americans Knew) “Amnesty International’s Saudi Arabia campaigner Dana Ahmed…

“Islam does provide for women’s rights, but enforcement is the problem” in South Africa. “How do you leave someone desolate when you know that person was an equal contributor to that marriage?” Court Win for Muslim Women (Weekend Argus / Independent Online) An 11-year old student says the madrassa is “friendly and you can practice…

Worse than cutting off aid to the Palestinians is the effort to strip Palestinians of their refugee status to undermine their inalienable “right of return”: Trump Wants to Help Israel by Cutting Aid to Palestinians. Why are Some Israelis Worried? (Foreign Policy) Even Israeli Officials Are Warning That Trump’s Moves Against Palestinians May Backfire (The…

To demonstrate that “Islam is grounded in equality and freedom and it is against all forms of oppression … Guzman asks each of his subjects to choose a chapter from the Quran or a ‘hadith’ … to accompany their portraits”: Intimate Portraits Show the Diversity of America’s Muslims (CNN) Iran claims US sanctions violate a…

“The Palestinian people and leadership will not be intimidated and will not succumb to coercion. The rights of the Palestinian people are not for sale. There is no glory in constantly bullying and punishing a people under occupation” – Hanan Ashrawi: Palestinians Blast Trump’s Aid Cut as Political Blackmail (WA Today) “The government shouldn’t be allowed to…

Tunisia’s Ennahda Party achieves what the nation’s secularists never did: they have elected a woman as mayor of the capital city: Meet Souad Abderrahim, the First Female Mayor of Tunisia’s Capital in 160 Years (Washington Post) As Israel releases Ahed Tamimi from prison it sentences her brother and to make sure no videos of its…

With the transfer of the Iran portfolio to Brian Hook (“John Bolton’s man in the State Department”), the “Iran Action Group” might as well be renamed the “Iran Coup Squad,” but it reflects administration doubts about prospects of its Iran policy:  Trump’s Secret Cabal on Iran at the State Department (Al-Jazeera) “During Eid al-Adha , Muslims…