Sat 13 March 2021: Sri Lanka will ban the wearing of the burqa and shut more than 1,000 Islamic schools, the latest actions affecting the country’s minority Muslim population. Minister for Public Security Sarath Weerasekera told a news conference on Saturday that he had signed a paper on Friday for cabinet approval to ban the […]
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Sat 13 March 2021: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Governor-General Patsy Reddy joined hundreds of community members at Christchurch’s Horncastle Arena on Saturday for the service. Ardern told an emotional memorial service marking two years since the Christchurch mosque attacks that the country had “a duty” to support its Muslim community. Ardern said […]
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Sat 13 March 2021: Waseem Rizvi, a Lucknow-based leader considered close to the Hindu right-wing, has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court demanding removal of 26 verses of the holy Quran. This is perhaps the most provocative move which even the fanatics of Hindutva brigades have not made in the recent […]
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Fri 12 March 2021: Saudi Arabia’s minister of Hajj and Umrah has been removed from the post, the country’s state news agency reported today. “Mohammed Saleh ben Taher Benten, Minister of Haj and Umrah shall be relieved form his position,” SPA said in a tweet, without giving reasons behind the decision. Benten was appointed minister […]
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Thu 11 March 2021: The Indonesian government has started construction of Sheikh Zayed Gand Mosque in Solo, Central Java, which is being built as a symbol of Indonesia-United Arab Emirates friendship. The mosque, which will be built on a 3-hectare plot, will feature four minarets, with the main dome surrounded by smaller domes. It will […]
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Wed 10 March 2021: The leading U.N. expert on freedom of religion on Monday criticized the Swiss referendum in favor of a “burqa ban,” saying that the “cloak of democracy” does a poor job hiding bigotry. “Swiss voters have chosen the eve of the International Women’s Day to vote in a measure that violates the […]
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Tue 09 March 2021: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman approved a range of initiatives aimed at assisting firms and individuals operating in support of Islamic pilgrimages, Saudi state news agency SPA said. The initiatives are aimed at mitigating the financial and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic across the sector that provides support for the Hajj […]
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Sun 07 March 2021: Switzerland is voting on Sunday on whether to ban “full facial coverings” in public places. The vote comes after years of debate, following similar bans in other European countries, such as France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Some sections of Swiss society have termed the referendum as Islamophobic. Red billboards picturing a scowling woman wearing […]
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Sat 06 March 2021: Pope Francis held a historic meeting today with Iraq’s top Shia cleric Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani in the southern Najaf city. The meeting came as part of the pontiff’s current visit to Iraq, which started on Friday. According to an Anadolu Agency reporter, the meeting, which took place at Sistani’s office in Najaf, focused […]
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Fri 05 March 2021: Pope Francis has called for an end to “violence and extremism” in his opening address on the first-ever papal visit to Iraq, long scarred by war and now gripped by the coronavirus pandemic. The state-run Al-Iraqiya TV broadcast live the landing of his plane. He was received at the Baghdad International […]
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