religion

By Tom Balmforth | RFE/ RL MOSCOW — With its soaring minarets and golden dome, the huge new mosque that President Vladimir Putin opened in Moscow late last month was welcomed by Muslims as a sign of their greater acceptance in mostly Christian Russia. Days later, some worshippers voiced dismay over the Kremlin’s campaign of […]

Islam-hatred

Armed Extremists plan “Global Rally” to Stalk American Mosques

contributors

Bridge Initiative Team | (Tracking islamophobia) Against the backdrop of increasing anti-Muslim rhetoric, a coalition of online activists is calling on “patriots” to organize protests in front of mosques across the United States. Dubbed the “Global Rally for Humanity,” events are planned in at least 20 cities nationwide on October 9th and 10th. Claiming that […]

Featured

Facing ISIL Propaganda, Russia Denies its Syria Campaign is a “Holy War”

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Remember when George W. Bush lapsed and called his Iraq War a “crusade?” He had to back off that religious rhetoric really quickly because he needed Muslim allies. Now the Russian Orthodox Church has made a similar error. Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said that his church supports […]

Iraq

Aided by Climate Change, ISIL wages Water war on Shiites of south Iraq

contributors

By Raad Salem | (Niqash.org) | Amarah | – – “Droughts, extremists’ control of water upstream and government austerity measures that are shutting pumping stations: Iraq’s already-precarious, but precious, marshes and wetlands are in danger – again.” The buffaloes that Jabbar Hassan farms moved too slowly across the marshland. They looked tired and too thin; […]

Arab Americans

Palestine – The Exception To Free Speech In The U.S.?”

contributors

AJ+ | (Video News Report) – – “University campuses are the front line of Palestinian human-rights advocacy in the U.S., but a new report by the Center for Constitutional Rights and Palestine Legal documents hundreds of cases in which students and scholars have been punished for their free speech.” AJ+: “Palestine – The Exception To […]

Arab Americans

Can anti-Muslim Bigotry Help Donald Trump Or Ben Carson Win The Republican Race?

contributors

AJ+ | (Video News Report) | – – “Donald Trump may still lead the Republican polls, but Ben Carson is now only a point behind. What do the two candidates have in common? Well, for one thing, they’ve both been involved in anti-Muslim sentiment this month.” AJ+: “Can Bigotry Help Donald Trump Or Ben Carson […]

Islam

Jerusalem: Abbas warns Int’l leaders of ‘danger’ over Israeli-Palestinian clashes at Aqsa Mosque

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday warned international leaders at the UN General Assembly of the potential danger of ongoing events at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem. Abbas told Palestine TV that he had told world leaders in a series of meetings at the […]

Arab Americans

Do the Republicans need the Muslim Vote?

contributors

by Julie Poucher Harbin, EDITOR | ( ISLAMiCommentary) | – – Over the past week-and-a-half Islamophobia seemed to dominate the headlines; first when a 14-year-old Texas student who was arrested for bringing “a hoax bomb” to school that was really a home-made clock, and capped off by GOP presidential contender Dr. Ben Carson saying a […]

Assyrians

Iraq: Can Mosul’s Christians ever Go Home to their Historic Neighborhoods?

contributors

Nawzat Shamdeen | Berlin | (Niqash.org) | – – They have been harassed, threatened, have lost all their worldly goods and forced to flee. What, if anything, would make Mosul’s Christians want to return to the city they used to call home? A celebration at an Orthodox church in Mosul in the early 20th Century: […]