“Arab and Muslim figures on Friday mourned the death of former South African President Nelson Mandela, noting his cause as an example for the world to follow”:
“Contrary to the common perception of many non-Muslims, the teachings of Islam encourage sexual intimacy and connectedness within a marriage, not just for procreation”:
“In a small village in Turkey, Ahmet Tuzer spends his days as a Muslim cleric, chanting the call to prayer. But by night he is the singer in a rock and roll band, causing waves in the Muslim community”:
Malaysia’s Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Office (Islamic Affairs “called on the Muslim community to stay united in order to reject any attempt to deny their rights as Muslims and at the same [time] not to deny people of other religions their rights to practise their faiths”:
- Defend Your Rights and Sanctity of Islam, Muslims Told (Borneo Post)
“The international chemical weapons watchdog announced Friday it has verified the destruction of all of Syria’s unfilled munitions — another milestone along the road to eradicating President Bashar Assad’s chemical weapons program by mid-2014” …
- All Syrian Chemical Weapons Munitions Destroyed (AP / USA Today)
… but that’s scant comfort to seduced and abandoned young Syrian refugees:
- Poor and Vulnerable, Syrian Refugee Families Push Girls into Early Marriage (Christian Science Monitor)
The repression in Egypt grows:
- Egyptian Police Fire Tear Gas to End Clashes in Cairo (Reuters)
- Egypt Stops Morsi Prison Visits over ‘Incitement’ Messages (BBC)
- Egypt Reportedly to Declare Muslim Brotherhood ‘Terrorist Organization’ (Jerusalem Post)
Kerry reassures a concerned Netanyahu that the deal with Iran doesn’t mean the U.S. is off Israel’s leash:
“Gábor Vona, the chairman of Hungary’s ultra-nationalist Jobbik party, praised Muslims during a visit to Turkey and called for his country to reposition its foreign policy eastward” reportedly saying that “Islam is the last hope for humanity in the darkness of globalism and liberalism'”:
- Strange Bedfellows: Hungarian Far-Right Jobbik Party Embraces Muslim Nations, Seeks ‘Eurasian’ Ideal Of Statehood (International Business Times)
The American teacher’s death “highlighted the tenuous security in the eastern Libyan city where a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed last year. But to Smith’s students, this was more personal. He was a teacher who offered free private tutoring when others had given up, … and [he] loved their country”:
- Students in Libya Say Slain Teacher Inspired Them (AP / abc News)
