On March 15th, a high court in southwest India ruled in support of banning hijabs in public colleges and high schools. What started as a school policy dilemma in Udupi in December last year has become a precedent-setting issue in India.
On Friday, March 4, a Shia mosque in Peshawar, northwestern Pakistan, was attacked by a suicide bomber. The Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack that left at least 63 dead and 196 injured, mostly in critical conditions. The attack happened during a Friday worship service in the Kucha Risaldar mosque, causing massive casualties.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has recalled the ambassador to the United Kingdom over a controversial video of a ceremony hosted by the embassy. Mohsen Baharvand, Tehran’s ambassador to London, hosted the 43rd anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, allowing unveiled women in attendance.
On Sunday, February 20, an Egyptian lawmaker proposed a law that will ban "non-specialist" journalists from discussing religion. The proposal responds against Ibrahim Issa's statement on February 18, dismissing the Prophet Muhammad's ascension.
Tarek Radwan, head of the Human Rights Committee of the Egyptian Parliament, proposed the law draft. Ali Gomaa, of the parliament's Religious Affairs Committee, signaled his support for Radwan's proposal.
On Wednesday, February 23, a Shia Muslim was given the death penalty and a fine of almost $3000 (PKR 500,000) for blasphemy charges. Court officials stated that Wasim Abbas, a minority Shia Muslim in Pakistan, has allegedly insulted the Prophet Muhammad.
A Mexican Muslim woman who was employed to help organize the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar was forced to leave the country after being sexually assaulted. Paola Schietekat worked in Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy when a colleague sexually assaulted her last June.
Kuwait's conservative right-wing politicians and clerics are crying foul over yoga. Lawmakers and Islamic scholars are bizarrely fixated on the lotus and downward dog, calling it a danger and depravity of women. Other conservatives label it as an attack on Islam. The uproar has prompted the Kuwaiti government to cancel a yoga instructor's desert wellness yoga retreat.
An Egyptian journalist's statement sparked outrage among Egypt's hardline Islamists, accusing the journalist of committing "contempt of Islam." Ibrahim Issa, an outspoken critic against Muslim groups, claimed on Friday, February 18, that the Prophet Muhammad's journey to Jerusalem never happened.
A recently opened Holocaust museum in Indonesia's North Sulawesi province is causing an outcry from conservative Muslims and Islamic scholar groups. The groups are demanding that the permanent exhibition and museum dedicated to the horrors of the Holocaust be closed.
Sudarnoto Abdul Hakim, head of foreign relations and international cooperation of the country's Indonesian Ulema Council, said they demanded that the exhibition stop and cancel the museum.
A Hindu teacher was sentenced for blasphemy on Tuesday, February 8. Nautan Lal, a college teacher in Sindh province, southern Pakistan, received a life sentence.
The order was passed by Judge Murtaza Solangi of the Sindh Province court. The order also included a fine of 50,000 rupees or close to $300.
