Author: Hanan Hameed

Free speech requires readers be allowed to judge Houellebecq’s claim that although his novel uses “scare tactics … it’s not clear what we are meant to be afraid of, [white far-right] nativists or Muslims;” but then that same freedom should be extended  Roger Garaudy’s The Founding Myths of Israel: France Most Notorious And Internationally Best-Known Novelist Michel…

Hanan Ashrawi calls Israel’s attempts to punish Palestinians for joining the ICC “highway robbery. Not only is this illegal, they are adding money theft to land theft. The revenues belong to the Palestinian people, they go to pay salaries and support our economy. Israel has no business deciding to steal our funds”: Israel Withholds Funds,…

Defense lawyers … hoped for speedy trial given a changing political climate between Egypt and [Al-Jazeera’s home base] Qatar … which recently promised to ease tensions in the greater Middle East by dropping its support for Islamist groups throughout the region, like Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood”: Egyptian Court Orders Retrial for Al-Jazeera Journalists (Christian Science…

“What Mr Hellyer longs to see is the emergence, at least in the wider world, of rigorously independent voices who are willing to denounce human-rights abuses by all sides”: Western Muslims and Egypt, Telling (All) Hard Truths (The Economist) “The fundamental reason behind this shameful situation in many Muslim countries is clearly the failure of political leadership, exacerbated…

In Philadelphia, Muslims organize a rally against racism. “Rally leaders decried those killings and said demonstrators were focused on improving policing practices and police-community relations, not on protesting against police per se”: Muslims Hold City Hall Rally for Social Justice (Philly.Com) After a Muslim leader denounced the Ahmadis on a popular Pakistani television talk show, “Luqman…

“In Raqqa, once a city of more than 200,000 people, the militants have kicked locals out of their homes and doled out those houses as rewards to fighters and their families, many of whom come from impoverished backgrounds”: … Hoping to Create a New Society, the Islamic State Recruits Entire Families (Washington Post) … but…

Why do Muslim countries such as the UAE use Christmas decorations in public spaces when Muslims don’t celebrate Christmas? … Ask Ali: Why Muslims Don’t Celebrate Christmas (The National) … Meanwhile, Linda Sarsour explains that some Muslims celebrate Christmas because “Jesus is very central to Islam and is someone I take great inspiration from”: Why Muslims…

Karen Armstrong sets out to dispell the bogeymen “that the idea that religion is a gratuitous cause of violence, whose elimination would promote peace[,] … that Islam is an egregious case of a religion that inspires violence[, and] that … the ‘Christian’ … is a more benign global force”: Trouble and Strife: Is Secularism or Religion…

The “Dharm Jagran Samiti (DJS) functionary … was reacting to the arrest of Nand Kishore Valmiki, a DJS activist [who] … was arrested on Tuesday for his alleged involvement in forcefully converting over 100 Muslims to Hinduism in Agra”: ‘We Will Free India of Muslims and Christians by 2021’: DJS Leader Vows to Continue ‘Ghar Wapsi’ Plans…

“[T]here are [monsters] in every country, and there are some in this country. Our obligations are to deal with some of the warmongers we have here and the infractions of our liberties here at home. But there is no moral obligation, there’s no constitutional authority, and there’s no practical advantage for us [to go abroad]”:…