religion

By Bharath Ganesh | (The Conversation) | – – Following the attack on a group of Muslim worshippers in Finsbury Park that left one person dead and 11 injured, Londoners have once again demonstrated their strength and unity in the face of violence. Neil Basu, deputy assistant commissioner for the Metropolitan Police and senior national […]

Featured

London Mosque attack: Did Trump’s Tweets embolden Bigots?

Juan Cole

by Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – A man driving a white van swerved just after midnight early Monday morning into a crowd of Muslims coming out of Finsbury Park Mosque in North London, severely injuring British Muslims. The Muslim Council of Britain called it a “violent manifestation of Islamophobia.” The organization asked […]

Islam

Top Five things to know about Sharia (Muslim Canon Law)

contributors

Asma Afsaruddin | (The Conversation) | – – Editor’s note: A conservative grassroots organization, ACT for America, organized a “March against Sharia” in at least 20 cities across the United States on Saturday, June 10. Professor of Islamic Studies at Indiana University Asma Afsaruddin explains Sharia and dispels a number of myths about it. What […]

Iraq

Iraq Deployed Shiite Volunteers to defeat ISIL, but now has a Militia Problem

contributors

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) |. – The Iraqi government’s next big problem is coming into view: The group of powerful Shiite Muslim militias loyal to Iran seem to want to keep the country enmeshed in regional turmoil. As the extremist group known as the Islamic State is driven out of the country, the […]

Arab World

The top 4 Challenges facing the Arab World

contributors

By Tarek Osman | (Project Syndicate) | – – LONDON – Fifty years after the Six Days War, the Middle East remains a region in seemingly perpetual crisis. So it is no surprise that, when addressing the region, politicians, diplomats, and the donor and humanitarian community typically focus on the here and now. Yet, if […]

Arab Americans

Is Trump’s Travel Ban Succeeding despite Court Blocks?

contributors

TeleSur | – – The rate of refugee resettlement has also seen a sharp decline. Despite federal courts halting Trump’s restrictive and discriminatory travel ban executive order on six-Muslim majority countries for the third time on Monday, the number of visas issued to travelers from these six predominantly Muslim countries has plummeted, U.S. State Department […]

Death Penalty

Execution-Crazy Saudi Gov’t railroads 14 Shiite Dissidents with unfair Death Penalty

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – (Beirut) – Saudi Arabia should immediately quash the death sentences of 14 members of the Shia community for protest-related crimes, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today. The Court of Appeal of the notorious Specialized Criminal Court upheld the sentences in May 2017, after they were handed down […]

Bahrain

Saudi v. Qatar: Will Turkish intervention cause Escalation?

contributors

By James M. Dorsey | (Inter Press Service) | – – SINGAPORE (IPS) – Turkey’s parliament is this week fast tracking the dispatch of up to 3,000 troops to Qatar, home to the country’s military base in the Middle East. Certain to stiffen Qatar’s resolve to resist Saudi and UAE-led pressure to force it to […]

Iran

Could ISIL attacks in Tehran plunge the Middle East into greater turmoil?

contributors

By Mohammadbagher Forough | (The Conversation) | – – Iran experienced its first major ISIL attack on June 7, as armed men and suicide bombers targeted two symbols of the Islamic Republic in Tehran: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s mausoleum and the Iranian parliament. At least 12 people are reported to have been killed and 42 wounded. […]