Citizenship

Revamped citizenship guide still a work in progress as election nears Document used by newcomers to prepare for citizenship test has historical gaps, outdated information

(CBC) A promised overhaul of Canada’s citizenship guide remains a work in progress with just months left in the Liberal government’s mandate. That leaves newcomers to the country with the existing guide — which is riddled with historical gaps and outdated information — as […]

Interfaith

Is a CAIR staffer legitimizing modern blood libels? The organization was officially designated a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates in 2014.

(Jerusalem Post) A Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) organizer, Zohra Lasania, the program director of CAIR-Pittsburgh, reportedly gave legitimacy to a Zionists-ISIS conspiracy, according to the Middle East Forum, a conservative think-tank. Lasania reportedly posted on Facebook an article first published by […]

Books

Former far-right politician who converted to Islam says EU must be realistic about immigration Joram van Klaveren worries that the ideas he contributed to may become policies after the next EU elections

(National-UAE) With Europeans approaching the next parliamentary vote split down the middle on the benefits of immigration, few can claim to have the perspective possessed by Joram van Klaveren. As a spokesman for right-wing Geert Wilders’s anti-immigration Party for Freedom (PVV) a […]

Arts & Entertainment

Hollywood Iftar encourages creators to reject ‘stereotypical stories’ about Islam The third annual event was hosted by the Muslims on Screen & Television Resource Center, Unity Productions Foundation and the Writers Guild Foundation.

(Hollywood Reporter) On Wednesday night the Writers Guild Foundation and Muslims on Screen & Television Resource Center (MOST) welcomed influential film and television creators to the 3rd annual Hollywood Iftar. The London Hotel in West Hollywood played host to the event, a […]

Alcohol & Drugs

Islam on beer mats angers Muslims in Germany Using coasters in pubs to improve understanding of the teachings of Islam in Germany is not going down well with some Muslim groups. They believe the connection between alcohol and the religion is unwise.

(Deutsche Welle) The distribution of Islam-related questions on beer mats in the towns of Maintal and Offenbach near Frankfurt has been harshly criticized. The mats show questions on Islam written in the local Hesse dialect. On the back, a QR code can […]

Discrimination & “Islamophobia”

Two years after M103, a recap on Islamophobia

(Toronto Sun) Two years ago our federal parliament passed M103, a motion condemning Islamophobia. Part of the non-binding text referred to the need to reduce or eliminate “systemic racism and religious discrimination,” with a specific reference to Islamophobia. Conservatives offered a more […]

Immigration

Germany: Trial of Berlin bomb plotter begins Magomed-Ali C. was arrested in August 2018 on suspicion of planning a bomb attack at a Berlin shopping center. He allegedly had close ties to the man who killed 11 people at a Christmas market in the capital in 2016.

(Deutsche Welle) The trial of a 31-year-old Islamist from Russia who allegedly planned a bomb attack in Berlin began on Thursday. Federal prosecutors accuse Magomed-Ali C. of planning the attack, most likely on a shopping center in the north of the capital, […]

Academics & Education

French Senate votes to ban headscarf on school trips Upper house adopts bill that prohibits mothers from wearing headscarf while accompanying students on school trips

(Anadolu) France’s upper house of the parliament on Thursday adopted a bill that prohibits mothers from wearing headscarf while accompanying the students on school trips. The bill was presented in the country’s senate by the conservative Republican party. The bill was passed […]

Clerics & Preachers

Salafist preacher Sven Lau to be released from German jail German Islamist Sven Lau will leave prison early after serving two-thirds of his sentence for supporting a terrorist organization. Lau had recruited fighters for the Jamwa militia in Syria.

(Deutsche Welle) A German court on Thursday ordered the early release from jail of one of Germany’s most renowned Salafists. Sven Lau had been serving a sentence of 5 1/2 years for aiding terrorism. Lau was convicted in July 2017 of supporting Jamwa, an Islamist […]