Posts tagged islam
Special Report: India Abandons Rohingya Refugees Near Myanmar’s Border

Indian authorities have allegedly “abandoned” — rather than deported — 40 Rohingya refugees in international waters near the Myanmar maritime border, forcing women, children and the elderly to swim to safety using life jackets. The action could be seen as a “secret rendition,” a term used to describe the covert transfer of individuals across borders without legal process.

Read More
India Strikes Pakistan, Escalating Tensions Over Kashmir Terror Attack

India launched a military strike deep into Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir early on May 7, saying it targeted sites used by terror groups responsible for the April 22 attacks on civilians in the Kashmir region. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called the attack a “blatant act of war,” promising that it “will not go unpunished” and claiming that a “resolute response is already underway.”

Read More
Uprooted Kashmiri Hindus Using Radio To Keep Their Identity Alive

Founded in 2013, Radio Sharda has grown into a powerful cultural project — broadcasting Kashmiri-language content to a global diaspora and anchoring displaced people to their roots. Named after the goddess of learning and the ancient Sharada Peeth temple, Radio Sharda is more than a radio station. It is a living archive of a vanishing language, a meeting point for artists and a shared refuge for memory.

Read More
India And Pakistan Must Step Back From The Edge Of War

(ANALYSIS) The April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir, which killed 26 civilians, has pushed India and Pakistan into one of their most dangerous standoffs in recent years. Daily gunfire is being reported across the Line of Control and diplomatic ties have been cut off and military activity is intensifying between the majority Hindu nation and their Muslim neighbors.

Read More
Harvard Releases Long-Awaited Internal Antisemitism Report

Harvard University’s president has apologized for the campus climate over the last year and a half, in a letter accompanying a long-awaited report from a university task force on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias.

Read More
Amid Gender Apartheid In Afghanistan, Women Face Deportations

(ANALYSIS) In January 2025, Trump’s administration halted visa processing for refugees. All refugee travel to the U.S. was to be canceled. This included the travel of nearly 1,660 Afghans cleared to resettle in America — including many women and girls who were facing serious risk upon return.

Read More
On Religion: Yet Another Threat To The Ancient Church In Syria

(ANALYSIS) In the chaos, journalists have struggled to confirm statistics about fatalities, while waves of social media videos claim to show crucified Christians, Alawites and other members of religious and ethnic minority groups being beaten, militants firing machine guns into houses and committing other atrocities.

Read More
Following Quran Burnings, Will Sweden Stumble Into Anti-Blasphemy Laws?

(ANALYSIS) Freedom of religion means that religious beliefs, or irreligious ones, can be criticized, even mocked, as happens frequently in Sweden to, for example, Christian sentiments. In an open society, people of different faiths — Christians, Muslims, Jews, agnostics and secular humanists — must be able to live side by side in freedom and security. But they may be critically scrutinized, even ridiculed.

Read More
5 Crucial Questions For Jews And Muslims Post-Ceasefire

(ANALYSIS) Israel and Hamas’ new ceasefire deal promises to bring much-needed relief to the region after 15 months of brutal conflict. But a series of uncertainties continues to loom large. Many pivotal questions remain unanswered, and their resolution will determine whether this ceasefire is a genuine step towards lasting peace or merely a temporary reprieve.

Read More
New Global Pew Survey Shows Rising Religious Intolerance

While the global median score on the Government Restrictions Index (based on several factors) held steady in 2022 at 3.0 out of 10, the number of countries with “high” or “very high” levels of government religious restrictions rose to 59, which accounts for 30% of the 198 countries and territories Pew Research Center studied.

Read More
Restoration and Reinvention: Breathing New Life into Uzbekistan’s Islamic Spaces

A new unique project in the Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan seeks to both revive and repurpose an architectural gem that survived the Soviet Union and decades of harsh weather. The Center for Contemporary Art residencies will be a unique cultural space in the heart of Tashkent. The site was built as a madrassa during the 1880s but, during the Soviet era, was used as a carpentry space.

Read More
Why The UK Has Been Overwhelmed By Anti-Muslim Riots

(EXPLAINER) Riots have erupted across the United Kingdom over the past week as far-right groups launched attacks against hotels housing asylum seekers and mosques. A heavy security presence on Wednesday and a series of arrests across Britain has prevented a repeat of widespread rioting involving racist attacks targeting Muslims and other migrants that started late last month.

Read More
Muslims Welcome Ramadan Amid Heightened Security And Concern For Gaza

Muslims around the world welcomed the holy month of Ramadan on Sunday with some trepidation given the war in Gaza and political and religious turmoil taking place across the Middle East. Ramadan — the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar — is a period observed by Muslims worldwide.

Read More
Religious Liter-AI-cy: An Interview With ChatGPT About Religion, Part 2

This week in our Talking to Tech series, we conducted another interview with ChatGPT-4. This was the second in a three-part interview. The first two involve questions specifically relating to the three monotheistic faiths. 

Read More
Drug Addiction Surges In Contested Regions Of Jammu and Kashmir

According to the latest figures given in the Parliament, the region with a population of 14 million has almost 1 million drug addicts. The consequence of such a massive upswing in drug addiction has taken a heavy toll on a society pounded by conflict and political uncertainty.

Read More
An Old Question That’s Back In The News: Why Can’t Non-Muslims Visit Mecca And Medina?

(OPINION) Daniel Pipes penned a Wall Street Journal op-ed last month urging Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to end Islam’s long-standing ban against non-Muslims entering the faith’s two holiest locations, Mecca, where the Prophet Muhammad issued the Quran and founded the religion 14 centuries ago, and Medina, where he led the first Muslim state.

Read More
How Ramadan got its name: 6 questions answered

Ramadan, which spans the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, is a full month of religious fasting. The associate professor of religious studies and director of the Muslim Studies Program at Michigan State University answers six questions about its importance.

Read More
This Sikh family performed last rites for unclaimed COVID-19 patients. Then they caught the virus

Jatindra Shunty and his family have helped cremate or bury the unclaimed poor in New Delhi for years. Now during a pandemic, they are also performing last rites for COVID-19 patients, whether Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian, aiming to give dignity in rest to people who may not have been treated with dignity in life.

Read More