Minaret of Freedom Weblog

Kurds complain that even after technical problems causing “initial transfers to the state oil company [to be] lower than required” were resolved, the central governments persisted in sending reduced payments:

• A New Fight over Oil Shows Why It’s So Hard to Keep Iraq from Splintering (Washington Post)

“An all India survey … reveals that 92.1 per cent of the surveyed Muslim women were opposed to … a form of unilateral divorce that does not give room for reconciliation, and 91.2 per cent were against polygamy”:

• ‘Muslim Women Opposed to Unilateral Divorce’ (Indian Express)

“The development comes after almost a year of holding a sit-in protest…. [T]he victim families had said some of the victims have already converted to Islam in protest against the atrocities of upper caste Hindus”:

• 50 Dalits in Haryana Convert to Islam (DNA India)

Rather than some “longstanding natural bond between the” Judeo-Christian traditions, “the history of Jews in Spain and Portugal suggests … the multicultural bond with the greater historical resonance was Judeo-Muslim”:

• When Jews And Muslims Forged Common Bonds (Outlook)

“Insurgents have regained control of several villages in northwest Syria from government forces and have advanced beyond them, edging closer to a coastal stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad”:

• Insurgents Recapture Villages on Syrian Plain Vital to Assad (Reuters)

“One of the most puzzling aspects of this new phase of American involvement is that it is in no way expressly intended to provide protection for civilians”:

• If Barack Obama Ever Had a Strategy for Syria, It’s Been Turned on Its Head (Guardian)

“A heat wave pushes Iraqis to demand the kind of honest government that can keep the power on and air conditioners running… Many protesters claimed corruption to be a worse enemy than the terrorists of Islamic State”:

• Iraqi Leaders on the Hot Seat (Christian Science Monitor)

A “Farmersville resident who opposes the cemetery told me she was suspicious of the Buddhist meditation center in town because they’re ‘too quiet….’ Raise your voices, Americans. For God’s sake, raise your voices”:

• How a Muslim Cemetery Became a Battleground for America’s Soul (Religion News Service)

• Rand Paul, Chris Christie … and a 2016 Campaign About National Security? (Christian Science Monitor)

• The Right to Rancour (Economist)

“[T]he first military prisoner from Afghanistan to be tried in a US federal court … faces a maximum penalty of life in prison….” Now when are going to close Gitmo so other guilty parties may be convicted and the innocent set free?

• Former Soviet Tank Commander Found Guilty of Taliban Terrorism by US Court (Guardian)

“Islam gets a bad rap – mostly because it is not understood by large populations of uneducated followers who misinterpret the content and context …  guided primarily by the cultural context of the countries where they reside”:

• Islam: What’s the Problem? It’s Not Faith — It’s the Neighborhood Which Restricts Muslim Women’s Rights (Huffington Post)

Accusations that the chlorine gas has been used by Asad  has thus far been circumstantial and ignores evidence that the rebels were supplied with chlorine by an arms supplier to the rebels allied to the US:

• UN Approves Probe into Gas Attacks in Syria: Way Forward to Address Civil War? (Christian Science Monitor)

Eleven members of “an elite counter-terrorism force” and four Bangladeshi workers were killed. A “previously unheard of Islamic State affiliate, which calls itself Hijaz Province of the Islamic State, claimed responsibility”:

• Saudi Arabia Says Saudi Citizen Carried out Mosque Bombing (AP /abc News)

“A Palestinian official told reporters that before the funeral in Duma, a postmortem would be held to provide evidence for a complaint to the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague”:

• Father of Palestinian Toddler Killed in West Bank Arson Attack Dies (Guardian)

Placing UK troops “under foreign authority … [to carry] out combat operations in Syria despite a 2013 parliamentary vote banning military action in Syria” puts “trust and confidence” in the government “at risk” …

• Special Forces Disguised as ISIS Fighters Operating in Syria – Military Sources (Russia Today)

… while the “experience [Baathist veterans] bring [to ISIS] is a major reason for the group’s victories in overrunning large parts of Iraq and Syria”:

• IS Top Command Dominated by Ex-Officers in Saddam’s Army (AP /abc News)

Like many companies, we used a third party to check all requests. Because this particular request only included the requester’s name, which matched with a number of names and aliases on the denied persons list, it was flagged”:

• Want to Download Free AV Software? Don’t Have a Muslim Name (The Register)

Some residents expressed concern that the cemetery is a stalking horse for a mosque or a school if not a nefarious plot to poison the local water supply …

• Residents at Farmersville Meeting Greet Muslim Cemetery Plan with Distrust (Dallas Morning News)

… but “the first Baptist in America, Roger Williams, founded Rhode Island as a haven of religious freedom, not only for fellow Baptists, but for ‘Turks,’ as he called them. That’s right, Muslims”:

• Heroes in Farmersville Muslim Cemetery Fuss: Religious-liberty-lovin’ Baptists (Dallas Morning News)

A Brotherhood veteran “risked arrest to urge the movement to stay peaceful” and now that he has been arrested, he is being “mocked … on social media as naïve, unrealistic and hypocritical”:

• Younger Muslim Brotherhood Members in Egypt Bridle at Nonviolent Stance (NY Times)

“Muslim mothers’ established social role is one of the few constants across an otherwise heterogeneous religious group. This may be why [ISIS] sidesteps Muslim mothers by reaching out directly to young recruits in … cyberspaces”:

• Don’t Just Call the Police to Stop Young Men from Joining Isis. Call Their Mothers (Guardian)

“The Muslim battalion is part of growing relations between Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians…. [The] Turkic and religiously Sunni Islam minority … faced decades of religious and political persecution under Russian rule”:

• To Defeat Russia, Ukraine Creates Muslim Military Unit Made Up of Crimean Tatars (International Business Times)

“The protesters accused the government of trying to impose a little-known Islamic sect called Al Ahbash on the country’s Muslim population”:

• Ethiopia Hands Lengthy Prison Terms to Muslim Activists (VoA)

“I was humiliated in front of 1,200 students and my Constitutional right was violated. She made us go on stage and forced us to sing the prayer in front of everybody. She scolded me … when I mispronounced a few Sanskrit words”:

• Muslim Boy Forced to Recite Hindu Prayer in ‘Secular’ School (First Post)

“The same people praised me when I took positions against the violence and moral policing of the Hindu right. But I quickly became unpopular when I … [criticized] Islamist groups that were trying to enforce the burkha”:

• Karnataka: How a Muslim Journalist Fights Mullahs’ Fatwa (Hindustan Times)

“There will be civil war in Libya … We will kill one another in the streets…. We will need 40 years to reach an agreement on how to run the country, because … and everybody will want to run the country”:

• Saif al-Islam Gaddafi: the Prophet of His Own Doom (Guardian)

“There is definitely a shift on the ground…. Young girls don’t feel embarrassed to talk about the problems of the practice in front of their parents … It’s a very important shift in attitude” Mona Amin, anti-FGM activist:

• Somalia May Soon Ban Female Genital Mutilation. Are Laws Enough? (Christian Science Monitor)

“Egypt’s imprisonment of journalists is at an all-time high,” and “authorities [are] using the argument of ‘national security’ to crack down on press freedoms … and the threat of jail is used to censor critical voices” …

• How Egyptian Media Has Become a Mouthpiece for the Military State (Guardian)

… but Egypt denies the accusations while cozying up to John Kerry, even as it prolongs the ordeal of three of the journalists:

• Kerry Says US, Egypt Return to ‘Stronger Base’ in Ties (Christian Science Monitor)
• Egypt Court Postpones Al-Jazeera English Verdict to Aug. 29 (Christian Science Monitor)

“The extension to Israelis of … ‘administration detention,’ a practice commonly applied to Palestinian … suspects and condemned internationally, laid bare authorities’ frustration at failing to curb … ultra-nationalist attacks”:

• Israel Approves Jailing Jewish Militants Without Trial to Resolve Lethal Arson (Christian Science Monitor)

Mustafa Akyol explains why “modern-day Muslims don’t have to blindly obey [post-Qur’anic] these medieval interpretations of Islam” and why “Muslims “have more flexibility in our religious sources than most of us assume”:

• Islam and Gays: A Follow-up (Hurriyyah)

Surprisingly, “the majority of the reports were … nuanced, positive and accurate. [It was a] … slam dunk for the coverage and for the basketball team.”:

• Muslim Basketball Players Design Own Outfits And You Won’t Believe What Happens Next! (Patheos)

The women who cheated IS are “unlikely face any punishment for fraud since it would require IS to file a complain”:

• Chechen Women Allegedly Bilk Islamic State Recruiters (AP /abc News)

Rejecting the false choice between submission to or defeat of others Rouhani offered a vision of “constructive cooperation … without war or pleading or surrender, but with logic, negotiation and diplomacy in a legal path”:

• Rouhani Says Nuclear Deal a ‘Third Way’ for Iranian Foreign Policy (Reuters)

“The allegations are based on what is claimed to be a WikiLeaks cable the authenticity of which has been challenged by the organisation itself” because it lacks any link to an authentic Wikileaked cable:

• Iran Uses Fabricated WikiLeaks Cable to Smear UN Rights Rapporteur (Guardian)

The settlers’ murder of a Palestinian infant has even Netanyahu using the T-word …

• Palestinian Toddler Burned to Death in ‘Settler’ Arson Attack (AFP /Yahoo)
• Palestinian Toddler Scorched To Death While Sleeping (abc News)
• Netanyahu Condemns Killing of Palestinian Child as ‘Terrorism’ (US News)

… and Israeli forces add to the death toll during the ensuing protests:

• Palestinian Youth Killed Ater Arson Attack Sparks Violence in West Bank (Guardian)

Zarif argues that while non-nuclear-weapon states, like Iran, [comply] with the non-proliferation regime, states possessing destructive weapons … rejected the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and customary international law”:

• Iran Calls for Israel’s Nuclear Disarmament (Christian Science Monitor)

“Owning guns is a fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution. The Constitution either protects all of us or none of us. Our position is that you can’t let our enemies win by allowing us to divide ourselves as Americans”:

• This Is What It’s Like to Be a Muslim-American Gun Owner (The Trace)

Cartoon superheroes are well and good, but for real life role models for Muslim girls, check these nineteen amazing flesh and blood women:

• Muslim Women Superheroes (Huffington Post)

“Uzbekistan has banned beards, outlawed Islamic dress, shut restaurants that refuse to sell alcohol and warned teahouses not to celebrate the nightly end of the Ramadan fast with “Iftar” meals” …

• Central Asia’s Crackdown on Militant Islam Risks Provoking a Backlash (Reuters)

… but Russia’s “strained relations with the US and Europe have the Kremlin looking to strengthen ties with other parts of the world, in particular China and countries in the Middle East that have large Muslim populations”:

• Muslim Trendsetters in Moscow Defy Stereotype (World Bulletin)

“There’s been a couple of instances where people have come up to me after a show … [to say], ‘I came into this show with so much anger and negativity in my heart towards Muslims, and you have completely destroyed that'”:

• Muslim Funny Fest Is Using Comedy to Overcome Stigma (Huffington Post)

“We are concerned by continuous and credible reports of unlawful killings by the police and see these as proof of the urgent need for renewed momentum behind police reform” — the EU representative to Kenya:

• Peg Anti-terror Aid on Human Rights Reform, Muslim Clerics Say (Capital News)

“Born with female anatomy, … Alex prays on his own now, studying the Koran to work out what it really seems to say about gender and sexuality”:

• How a Transgender Man Tries to Honor His Muslim Faith (LA Times)

“Mullah Omar’s oldest son, said he and three other senior leaders had walked out of a meeting called to elect a new leader, and were now demanding a wider vote”:

• Afghan Taliban Praise New Leader as Rift in Ranks Appears (AP / abc News)