Minaret of Freedom Weblog

“Muslim women are often celebrated as courageous when pushing back against legal, social and cultural norms within their faith communities. But … aren’t Muslim women pushing back against Islamophobia ‘courageous,’ too?”

• Are American Muslim Women Brave? How About Those in Europe? (Huffiington Post)

When it acted “against all its tall and much-publicized claims about the freedom of expression and the freedom of conscience[, …] the hypocrisy of American society came to surface and lay uncovered before me” – Jermaine Jackson:

• ‘Islam Answered Many Unresolved Queries’ (Arab News)

“The Flint community needs us, and … [we] are helping by providing them with clean drinking water, filters, educational material related to the hazardous water, offering free lead testing, and raising money to assist” them:

• Michigan Muslim Community Organizations Join Forces to Help Flint Water Crisis (NBC News)

“[A]s the story of Basma and other women shows, even under the unsparing rule of Isis a growing number of people have risked their lives over the past year to help Yazidis flee”:

• Escape from Isis (Financial Times)

What’s going on here? A Muslim is elected head of the campus branch of a Zionist peace group while Netanyahu hurls an anti-Semitic slur at America’s ambassador to Israel:

• Israel’s Image Issue (NY Times)

“Those who watched ‘Little Mosque [on the prairie]’ had more positive attitudes toward Muslims both immediately after the viewing and four to six weeks later” than the control group who watched “Friends”:

• Can a TV Sitcom Reduce Anti-Muslim bigotry? A path to progress (Christian Science Monitor)

Just as the Constitution is misinterpreted by American militias …, as it was by Timothy McVeigh, … just as the Confederacy quoted the Bible in support of their right to possess slaves, so also the Quran is misinterpreted”:

• True Islam Is a Peaceful Militaristic Religion (Colorado Springs Gazette)

Sami Al-Arian tells the inside story of his persecution and explains why the 81% of Americans who don’t trust their government are right:

• I Was the Target of Jeb Bush’s Vicious Political Dark Side: Exploiting the Politics of 9/11 (Alternet)

David Cameron refers to the “traditional submissiveness of Muslim women” in a private conversation and gets a very public outcry from Muslim women refusing to submit to his stereotype:

• David Cameron found out the hard way that Muslim women are not #TraditionallySubmissive (PRI)
• British Muslim Women Hit Back at David Cameron by Tweeting Their Awesome achievements (Mashable)

“Nearly 1,400 years [after the Prophet Muhammad wrote the Medina Compact …, hundreds of religious scholars met in Marrakesh in a bid to revive the charter to protect religious minorities in Muslim communities today”:

• Morocco Summit Pushes Muslim Clerics to Improve the Lot of Religious Minorities (Religion News Service)

“Reinterpreting – or even abandoning – antiquated rules rooted in outdated social structures does not amount to subverting the word of God. On the contrary, it proves the true depth of Islam′s sacred texts”:

• Islam′s Path to Modernity (Qantara)

More Americans are killed by toddlers, by unstable household furniture,  and by distracted driving than by Muslims, while 5 out of the 12 past people who have won this award have been Muslim (and no, we didn’t include Barack Obama):

• 10 Reasons You Should Not Fear Muslims (Huffington Post)

Al-Jazeera said “it had ‘no other option’ but taking legal action through the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington DC … after Cairo declined to respond to the network’s complaints” …

• Al-Jazeera Sues Egypt Over Arrests, Raids and Seizures (AP / abc News)

… but if you think criticizing Muslim rituals like the animal sacrifice on Eid-al-Adha will protect you from Sisi’s oppression, think again. Jailed secularist Fatima Naoot regrets “that the efforts of reformists have been wasted”:

• Egypt Jails Prominent Poet for Insulting Islam (Middle East Eye)

“Hundreds … — including … high-school students — are being prosecuted under a previously seldom-used law that bars insults to the president.” A victim protests that “unable to distinguish strong criticism from an insult”:

• Turkey: Professor to Stand Trial for Insulting Erdogan (AP / abc News)

“We do not think that it is the role of Ofsted inspectors to judge schools on uniform policies and dress codes. Inspectors should focus on what schools achieve, rather than what people wear”:

• Ofsted Chief Backs Schools that Restrict ‘Inappropriate Wearing of Veil’ (Guardian)

The unusual public announcement of arrests for such an incident suggests Iran is signaling that it will no longer condone such actions:

• Iran Announces 100 Arrests Over Attack on Saudi Embassy (AP / abc News)

“Met Commander Richard Walton praised the Muslim community for fighting terrorism and added police were receiving more similar calls from young people within the community”:

• Muslim Doctor and Sister Helped Convict Pro-Isis Hate Preachers on Oxford Street (Independent)

“[A]s a Muslim parent, if my [child] goes to a Muslim school and … speaks in good manner to any boy or girl, regardless of what background, it doesn’t matter, because I believe this is not against my religion. What is this nonsense policy?”

• Pupil Suspended from Muslim School for Talking to Teen of Opposite Sex (Metro)

“The prophet was religiously persecuted, so he knew first-hand what it was to experience religious persecution. His religion ensured the rights of religious minorities — Shaykh Hamza Yusuf:

• Muslim Leaders to Hold Summit on Protecting Non-Muslims (Independent)

The now-disbanded NYPD program that targeted Muslims for their religion “used informants, known as ‘mosque crawlers, in order to monitor sermons” and “resulted in zero terrorism-related charges”:

• Black, Gay, Muslim, and Targeted by the FBI (Daily Beast)

“Philippine government and Muslim rebel peace negotiators both … urged lawmakers to immediately pass a new Muslim autonomy law in a region of southern Mindanao to counter radicalism, especially among young Muslims”:

• Philippine Muslim Rebels Say Concerned at Rising Radicalism (Reuters)

“As soon as the political transition is complete, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and her party must move swiftly to redress discrimination against Myanmar’s Muslims and to end the Rohingya’s terrible plight”:

• Ending the Horror of Myanmar’s Abuse of Muslims (NY Times)

“Italy is poised to sign deals worth up to 17 billion euros … underscor[ing] the potential business bonanza on offer for European firms following the lifting of crippling financial sanctions on Tehran earlier this month” …

• Mega Deals Announced as Iranian President Travels to Italy (Reuters)

… but a contract with Boeing “could take more time. The US-based company is currently blocked … by the primary sanctions still in effect, which means that any deal would likely require special government permissions to move forward”:

• With Sanctions Lifted, Western Aircraft Companies Look for Sales in Iran (Christian Science Monitor)

“It’s an incredible irony here because … Islam … [is] intellectual as well as religious and chess was the emblem of that. The pieces themselves were aesthetically reshaped into abstract pieces there”:

• Why the Grand Mufti’s Fatwa Gambit Is Unlikely to Checkmate Chess (Christian Science Monitor)

Despite Kerry’s professed optimism, the peace talks are threatened by refusal of the Saudi-backed Syrian opposition to include other groups …

• U.S. Secretary of State Says Confident Syria Talks Can Proceed (Reuters)
• Why Syria Peace Talks Aren’t Going According to Schedule (Christian Science Monitor)
• U.N. Envoy Signals that Riyadh Is Obstructing Syria Peace Talks (Foreign Policy)

… and an anonymous participant calls the private meeting between  Iran and Saudi “a dialogue of the deaf”:

• Saudi-Iranian Proxy War over Syria Spreads to Davos (Reuters)

“The summit meeting, expected to attract more than 300 Muslim religious leaders, will hark back to the Charter of Medina, in which the Prophet Muhammad enumerated the rights of non-Muslims 1,400 years ago”:

• Muslim Leaders Plan Summit on Protecting Non-Muslims in Their Midst (Religion News Service)

“As an Arab proverb reminds us, ‘Nothing can scratch your skin quite like your own nails…’ The development path of a country can only be determined by its people in light of its history, cultural traditions, and” socio-economic condition:

• President Xi’s Speech at Arab League Headquarters: Full Text (CRI English)

On the battleground of “[w]omen’s lives – and bodies – … the west … [has] cast those it wishes to subjugate as barbaric. ‘White man rescuing brown women’ was the … desire for domination … masked as virtuous duty” …

• Cameron and Muslim Women: a New Twist on an Old Colonial Story (Guardian)

… and thus “contradicting every principle of the scientific method he purports to champion, Dawkins established imaginary links between wholly divergent subjects, between terrorist attacks in Paris and Muslim women’s dress choices” …

• Muslim Women and the Militant Atheists (Middle East Monitor)

… in contrast, “Gul Ozyegin shows that we cannot understand young peoples’ intimate lives in universal ways – either as conforming to traditionally religious sex/gender scripts, or as morphing into modern global neoliberal selves”:

• Gender, Love, Sex in Muslim World at Heart of Ozyegin’s Latest Books (William & Mary News)

“This week, Wheaton’s faculty council, which represents the college’s 211 faculty, unanimously voted to recommend the administration withdraw its efforts to fire Hawkins and to end her administrative leave”:

• How a Facebook Comment Turned into a Nightmare for ‘the Evangelical Harvard’ (Washington Post)

“[T]he hard-line Guardian Council disqualified more than half of 12,000 would-be candidates. Of 3,000 reformists, 99 percent were rejected.” President Rouhani protested, “It is called the house of the nation, not the house of one faction”:

• Iran Election Briefing: Islamic Republic’s Fundamental Tensions Laid Bare (Christian Science Monitor)

We live in an age when a spelling error can lead to a criminal investigation:

• Muslim Schoolboy, 10, Quizzed by Police After Writing ‘I Live in a Terrorist House’ when He Meant ‘Terraced’ (Daily Mail)

… and “problems with alcohol, anxiety and depression and [having] just finished watching a week of Fox News coverage on the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris” can lead an unstable person to threaten a Muslim advocacy group:

• Lawyer Attributes Fox News’ Coverage For Client’s Murderous Threats Against Muslim Civil Rights Organization (Media Matters)

Elhassan’s attorney charges that in this “case and in others, federal agents have engineered a threat, then publicized their efforts to convince the American people that they are being protected”:

• Attorney: Alleged Terrorism Plot Involving Va. Men Created by Government (Washington Post)

“More than 80% of people in each of these groups said that they strongly belong to Britain, with the narrow exception being Asian Christians.” It is not religion but the “risk of racist victimisation” that leads to alienation:

• 3 Charts that Show Being Muslim Has Nothing to Do with How ‘British’ You Feel (Independent)

“It is only if people can act in accordance with their own values and inclinations that people from very different cultural backgrounds can coexist.” Forcing Muslims to watch films that creep them out doesn’t serve that purpose …

• Why Is Europe Giving Muslim Migrants Sex-ed Lessons? (Spiked)

… nor do shutting down stores selling Muslim style headscarves and forcibly shaving men:

• Tajikistan Police Shave Nearly 13,000 Men in Their Battle Against Conservative Islam (Time)

“We asked them to kill all of us or leave us alone,” Salah Farah, a Kenyan teacher who was on the bus, told the Daily Nation after the attack. “As we argued, they shot me and the boy” …

• A Kenyan Muslim Man Who Refused to Give Up Christians to Islamist Militants Has Died from His Wounds (Quartz)

… while “the bouncer who risked his own life by instantly tackling the shooter at Ten X Nightclub on Jan. 10, after the gunman pulled a pistol and began firing from the doorway into the bar” was a Muslim …

• In the Recent Calgary Nightclub Shooting, It Was a Muslim Who Saved the Day (Calgary Sun)

… and “none of the anti-Muslim critics are aware that, with respect to the single greatest source of deadly intentional violence worldwide, Muslim societies are among the least violent in the world”:

• The Truth About Islam (Slate)

“Last week, Erdoğan urged prosecutors to investigate scores of academics for signing a declaration criticising military action in the mainly Kurdish south-east of the country”:

• Turkish Teacher Jailed for Making Rude Gesture at President Erdoğan (Guardian)

“Most of the kidnapping victims released by IS were women, children, and elderly men. Men between the ages of 14 and 55 were held for questioning” and may not be released if determined to have ties with pro-government forces”:

• ISIS Releases 270 Captured Civilians (Christian Science Monitor)

“Israel is stealing land specially in the Jordan Valley under the pretext it wants to annex it[,] … a flagrant and grave aggression which kills all chances of peace” — Hanan Ashrawi:

• Israel Plans to Seize West Bank Farmland: Army Radio (Reuters)

A senior Iran analyst calls the exchange for seven Iranians “a smart move to prove to hard-liners on both sides that even a narrow arms control agreement can produce more positive knock-on effects than coercion and confrontation” …

• Iran Frees 5 Americans, Including Reporter, as Nuclear Deal Is Affirmed (Christian Science Monitor)

… it came on the day “the UN’s nuclear watchdog agency, … determined that Iran has fulfilled the necessary obligations to achieve a broad relaxation of nuclear-related sanctions” …

• ‘Implementation Day’ for Iran Nuclear Deal: What It Means (Christian Science Monitor)

… and one day before Israel, despondent over failing to torpedo the nuclear deal vowed to draw “on U.S. defense aid to prepare for a possible military face-off” with Iran …

• Israel Licks Wounds as Iran Sanctions End, Looks to Future U.S. Aid (Reuters)

… and the Obama administration “imposed fresh sanctions on 11 companies and individuals for supplying Iran’s ballistic missile program” …

• U.S. Prisoners Leave Iran, Arrive in Germany, as Obama Hails Win for Diplomacy (Reuters)

… regarding which an Iranian spokesman notes: “America sells tens of billions of dollars of weaponry each year to countries in the region. These weapons are used in war crimes against Palestinian, Lebanese and most recently Yemeni citizens”:

• Iran Condemns New US Sanctions over Missile Test (BBC)

“The dead included 85 civilians and 50 regime fighters, according to the human rights monitor, … [and the] more than 400 civilians … abducted, all of whom are Sunnis, include women, children and family members of pro-regime fighters”:

• Isis Fighters Abduct Up to 400 Civilians in Major Attack on Deir ez-Zor  (Guardian)

U.S. Officials declined to “identify the missing Americans or say what they were doing in Iraq”:

• US Embassy Says Several Americans Missing in Iraq (AP / abc News)

“What would Muhammad say about the Islamic State group? Is Islam compatible with democracy? Are Muslim women allowed to use contraceptives?”

• Hundreds Attend Islam Q&A Sessions (Albuquerque Journal)

Plaintiffs charge American Airlines cited no “basis of inappropriate or boisterous behavior, … [and no] security issue or threat,” when they kicked four dark-skinned passengers (three Muslims and a Sikh) off the flight”:

• Four Brooklyn Men Claim They Were Kicked Off Flight for Looking too Muslim in Lawsuit (Daily News)

“Islamic State … has accepted allegiances from jihadists in Nigeria, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Saudi Arabia, but has yet to formally recognise any radical groups in Southeast Asia”:

• Jakarta Attack Highlights Jostle to Lead Islamic State in SE Asia (Reuters)

“Burkina Faso and Mali have agreed to work together to counter the growing threat of Islamic militants in west Africa by sharing intelligence and conducting joint security patrols, following two deadly and well-coordinated attacks”:

• Mali and Burkina Faso to Share Counter-terror Efforts After Islamist Attacks (Guardian)

“The decision comes after objections to a proposal to keep schools open on the Jewish holy days … for the first time in more than three decades. Maryland law already requires schools to be closed on days that include [3] Christian holidays”:

• Why Some US Districts Are Adding Muslim Holidays to the School Calendar (Christian Science Monitor)

Four teachers claimed to be victims of forged resignation letters but the court believe only the Christian, not the three Muslims:

• Trojan Horse Tribunal Rejects Muslim Teaching Assistants’ Unfair Dismissal Claims  (Guardian)

“Not only are Muslim Americans successfully integrating into U.S. society, they are actually more opposed to intolerance and violence than many other Americans”:

• Why Are There So Many Misconceptions About Muslim Americans? (Huffington Post)

“I’m a very headstrong person. I do not think I have to sacrifice my scarf just because some people think that we’re the problem. I’m going to wear my head scarf even if I get hate. I’m going to live through it”:

• NJ Muslim Women Won’t Hide to Feel Safe (Asbury Park Press)

“I don’t think the Mosul offensive could happen this year. I don’t think the Iraqi armed forces are ready and I don’t think the (U.S.-led) coalition is confident in the ability of everyone to get ready in time for an offensive this year”:

• Offensive Against Islamic State in Mosul Unlikely in 2016: Iraqi Kurdish Deputy PM (Reuters)

Mohammad Javad  Zarif predicted that the IAES would certify Iran’s compliance and “that all parties would ‘not allow the outcome of these talks to be wasted'” and sanctions lifted today:

• Iranian, US Foreign Minister Focus on Clinching Nuclear Deal (AP /abc News)

“Travel writer Judith Fein said she created the lecture series to provide a direct counterpoint to blatant prejudice against Muslims…. Fein said the Muslims she has met worldwide bear no resemblance to the stereotypes”:

• Muslim Women to Speak at UNM (Albuquerque Journal)

“The swift release … contradicted speculation that the hardline Revolutionary Guards were seeking to sabotage the mending of relations between Iran and the west days before the planned implementation of the nuclear deal”:

• Iran Releases 10 US Sailors Who Entered Territorial Waters (Guardian)

“Not only are these things strictly forbidden under criminal law, they are also a mortal sin in Islam”:

• Cologne Attacks: ‘The Muslim Faith Is Irrelevant to These Drunken Men’ (Deutsche Welle)

The arrest for protesting her brother’s detention is “the latest example of Saudi Arabia’s utter contempt for its human rights obligations and provides further damning proof of the authorities’ intent to suppress all signs of peaceful dissent”:

• Sister of Saudi Blogger Raif Badawi Arrested and Jailed in Same Prison (Guardian)

Whether its kicking Palestinians off airplanes or banning Romeo & Juliet style novels, ‘Discouraging “assimilation” is an inseparable part of the Jewish state’ where rare knife attacks are volubly condemned but oppression is relentless:

• Welcome to Israel’s Version of Apartheid (The National / Counterpunch)

Erdoğan says Turkey was targeted because of its war on terrorism but some think it is targeted for its wars against the Asad regime and the Kurdish rebels:

• Istanbul Bombing Was No Surprise, Turks Agree, but They Differ on Why (Christian Science Monitor)

“Rummana Hussain was one of those children whose Muslim parents envisioned her in a white coat with a stethoscope around her neck. Instead, she became a … reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times” and only Muslim editorial staff  member:

• Muslim Journalists No Longer as Rare in US Newsrooms (Religion News Service)

“Mechanical trouble with one of the boats caused both to run aground in Iranian waters. Tehran has given assurances that the crew and the vessels would soon be returned, officials say”:

• Two US Navy Boats in Iran Custody, Crew to Be Returned ‘Promptly’ (AP / Christian Science Monitor)

“In 2007, Kelsay visited the Sultanate of Oman on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, where he urged students to challenge fellow Muslims who used the concept of jihad to justify acts of violence”:

• Scholar to Address Muslim Perspectives on Just War (National Catholic Reporter)

“[Q]uestioning the state-sanctioned interpretation of the Quran[,] … providing alternative interpretations for discussion…[, d]ebate, discussion and questions are seen as seditious. … [b]ecause Islam is used as an instrument of control”:

• Islamicity Indices — The Best Instrument for Changing the Muslim World (Huffington Post)

“The report also substantiates last month’s claims … that the chemical weapons used in the incident had been stolen from Libya and later smuggled into Syria via Turkey by militants”:

• Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Confirms: Rebels Used Chemical Weapons – Not Assad (Global Research)

“This is the third time an MSF health facility has been hit in the last three months”:

• Four Patients Among Dead After Explosion at Hospital in Yemen (Guardian)

“When calling on one member … of the campus community to answer for a Facebook post that was actually committed to living out the love of Christ and the principles of the Statement of Faith, no one is safe”:

• Wheaton College Provost Called Suspended Professor’s Muslim Comments ‘Innocuous’ (Time)

A disgraceful “fatwa on the sexual availability of Asians, who have in fact only come to Saudi Arabia to carry out home cleaning duties” is the tip of the iceberg as to the source of the negative steretypes of Islam exploited by Islamophobes:

• Women in Islam: Behind the Veil and in Front of It (Deutsche Welle)

Standing silently “wearing a white hijab and a turquoise T-shirt that said ‘Salam, I come in peace’ … as [Trump] was speaking about the threat of Syrian refugees to US security[, s]he was removed from the rally as other attendees booed”:

• Muslim Woman Thrown Out of Trump Rally (AP / AlJazeera)

Violence continues by a Muslim whose mother says “her 30-year-old son had been hearing voices recently and had felt targeted by police” using a gun “stolen from an officer’s home in October 2013″…

• Philly Suspect Blames Allah: Are US Police Shootings on the Rise? (Christian Science Monitor)

and against Muslims  by passing strangers:

• Gunman Shoots Philadelphia Police Officer ‘in the Name of Islam’ (CNBC)
• Syrian Refugees Pepper Sprayed After ‘Welcoming Event’ at Vancouver Muslim Center (Russia Today)

Music … [and] figurative art … traditions are meshed completely into Islamic culture in South Asia” disproving the notion that countries must choose between “secular embrace of modern arts or austerity”:

• How South Asia Will Save Global Islam (Diplomat)

“Both New York City and the nation must respond to the threat of violence – whatever its source – without tearing apart the fabric of our nation by violating the principles it proclaims”:

• The NYPD Spied on Muslim Americans. Will a Court Settlement Change Anything? (Guardian)

“What should we conclude from the person who expressed his desire that the professor — the one at the other college on whom the news story focused — be raped, sold into slavery and stoned to death?”:

• My College Got Caught Up in the Horrifying Rage over Wheaton’s Muslim-Christian God Debate (Washington Post)

“Only a simpleton – or, more commonly, person driven by instinct and emotion – thinks you can counter the uncompromising prejudice of ‘all immigrants are bad’ with the uncompromising prejudice of ‘all immigrants are good’”:

• The Left Must Admit the Truth About the Assaults on Women in Cologne (Guardian)

“The terminations at Fort Morgan appear to be based on a misunderstanding, or misinformation, about a perceived change in our religious accommodation policy…. Allegations that we were not going to allow prayer any longer are false”:

• Cargill Changes Hiring Policy Following Dispute Involving Muslim Workers (Star-Tribune)

Did the 16-year old critical of Israel cross the line into bullying a fellow student or was she the one being bullied by being denied a right to an attorney and threatened with a lawsuit if she had recorded school officials harassing her?

• NJ High Schooler Called To The Principal’s Office “For Being Anti-Israel” On Twitter (Gothamist)

“An event organized by a Muslim centre to welcome Syrian refugees to Vancouver took an ugly turn when a cyclist rode by and attacked the group”:

• Refugees In Vancouver Hit By Pepper Spray Outside Muslim Centre (Huffington Post — Canada)

“Two Texas politicians made public details of an investigation into a terrorism suspect while it was still in progress [and under  a court seal], potentially jeopardizing the inquiry, three sources familiar with the matter said on Friday”:

• Republican Politicians Jumped the Gun on Terrorism Suspect’s Arrest: Sources (Reuters)