Legal
‘Extremist’ called for ‘jihad by sword’ in speech at Brighton mosque, court hears (LINK ONLY)
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Mosques
Mosques
Iran’s ‘long terrorist arm’ in Germany ousted from Islamic group board The Hamburg Shura Council is an association of Muslim organizations.
(Jerusalem Post) A controversial Islamic organization has removed Iran’s Hamburg Center from its Shura executive board after German intelligence sources revealed that the Iranian entity in the city-state supports the late Qasem Soleimani, who was a designated terrorist according to US and […]
Clerics & Preachers
Police probe at Birmingham mosque as visiting imam ‘praises murderer’ in new year sermon (LINK ONLY)
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Discrimination & “Islamophobia”
Judge orders Mississippi city to allow mosque construction
(AP) A new federal court order says a Mississippi city must allow construction of a mosque, two months after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a discrimination lawsuit against the city on behalf of two Muslim men who want to develop the […]
Discrimination & “Islamophobia”
US Muslims call for action as ‘spying’ incidents shake community Council on American-Islamic Relations says it uncovered a ‘mole’ within its organisation and a ‘spy’ at a US mosque.
(Al-Jazeera) First, the major Muslim-American advocacy group reported that a “mole” had infiltrated the leadership of one of its state branches. Then, only days later, the organisation said a “spy” at a US mosque had passed information on to an “anti-Muslim” group. […]
Clerics & Preachers
Mosque in northern France ordered shut for ‘inciting hatred’ and ‘violence’
(Euronews) A mosque in northern France has been ordered shut for six months for “inciting violence.” The prefecture of the Oise département said the large mosque in Beauvais was closed for “inciting hatred,” “violence” and “apology of jihad.” France’s interior minister Gérald […]
Employment
CAIR says second ‘spy’ for anti-Muslim group has come forward, was paid thousands
(Columbus Dispatch) One week after the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Ohio chapter in Hilliard was fired for spying on the organization for an anti-Muslim group, the national office of CAIR announced Tuesday via its Twitter account that a second “spy” […]
Clerics & Preachers
France targets mosque for closure after ‘unacceptable’ preaching
(AFP) France’s interior minister said on Tuesday he had launched a procedure to close a mosque for up to six months because of the radical nature of its imam’s preaching. Gerald Darmanin told the Cnews TV channel he had “triggered” the process […]
Military
Fake mosque on Canadian Forces base in Alberta raises concerns for Muslim community 'It's very concerning to think about such a mosque ... on any armed forces base'
(CBC) As Mahmoud Mourra was out hunting on the prairie in southern Alberta, he came across a familiar sight in an unfamiliar location: the dome of a mosque, replete with minaret and crescent symbol. Only the mosque was not real. It was part of […]
Discrimination & “Islamophobia”
CAIR calls for Arizona Rep. Gosar to be expelled from Congress Offensive statement made about religious holy site
(KYMA) On December 10, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called for Representative Paul Gosar (R-AZ) to be expelled after he made a comment about destroying the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Rep. Gosar recently made a statement about the mosque, “It remains […]
Clerics & Preachers
Manchester Arena bomber gave imam ‘hateful look’ after he denounced extremism, inquiry told (LINK ONLY)
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Clerics & Preachers
Manchester Arena inquiry: Mosque failed to act on extremism, families say
(BBC) The mosque which the Manchester Arena bomber attended failed to adequately “challenge extremist ideology” in the years before the attack, the families of his victims have said. A former Didsbury Mosque imam has told the Manchester Arena inquiry support for terror […]
Mosques
Manchester Arena inquiry: Bomber’s brother had IS material
(BBC) The Manchester Arena bomber’s elder brother had a “significant” amount of extremist material when he was teaching at a mosque, an inquiry has heard. Ismail Abedi helped with Quran reading in Arabic in classes at Didsbury Mosque between February 2014 and […]
Government & Politics
Germany: Raunheim’s mosques to broadcast call to prayer on Fridays Germany has the second-largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France.
(Morocco World News) Authorities in the German town of Raunheim, in the Frankfurt Rhein-Main region, have decided to allow the Muslim call to prayer, “Adhan,” to be broadcast over loudspeakers on Friday afternoons. Mayor Thomas Juhe (SPD) announced the news on Tuesday […]
Clerics & Preachers
Paris Muslim leaders mark 6 years since Bataclan attacks
(AP) The Paris Mosque is marking the sixth anniversary Friday of the attack at the Bataclan concert hall in the French capital that killed 90 people. Muslim leaders laid a wreath at the venue in Paris’ 11th arrondissement, one day before a […]
Law Enforcement
Justices look for narrow ruling in mosque sting operation A failed FBI spying operation set the stage for a balancing test of First Amendment rights and the state secrets privilege.
(Courthouse News) During two hours of oral argument, the justices of the Supreme Court grappled Monday morning with how to avoid creating a broad new precedent on state secrets as it rules in a decade-old class action over the FBI spying on […]
Law Enforcement
US Supreme Court to hear case of surveillance of Muslims
(VOA) The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments Monday whether the U.S. government can invoke the protection of “state secrets” to withhold information about its surveillance of Muslims at mosques in California. The dispute began a decade ago when three Muslim men […]
Discrimination & “Islamophobia”
ACLU files suit against Horn Lake over rejection of mosque site plan
(Commercial Appeal) The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the City of Horn Lake in federal court, alleging that the city and its board of aldermen discriminated against two Muslim men on the basis of religion in denying approval of a mosque […]
Government & Politics
France to close 7 more mosques, associations by end of 2021 French interior minister also welcomes decision to close mosque in city of Allonnes for 6 months
(Anadolu) France will close seven more mosques and associations by the end of this year suspected of promoting “radical Islamism,” the country’s interior minister announced Tuesday. Gerald Darmanin welcomed the decision to close a mosque in the city of Allonnes for six […]
Clerics & Preachers
Municipalities deny infiltrating mosques for undercover investigation
(NL Times) There were no undercover investigations in mosques in the municipalities of Huizen, Hilversum, and Gooise Meren. The three municipalities said this in a joint statement following a publication in NRC on Saturday. The newspaper reported that undercover researchers visited Islamic […]
Crime
UK Muslim groups brace for rise in hate crime after killing of David Amess (LINK ONLY)
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Clerics & Preachers
Municipalities commissioned undercover investigations into mosques: NRC
(NL Times) At least ten municipalities commissioned undercover investigators to visit mosques and collect sensitive information on administrators, imams and teachers, the NRC reported. The municipalities that ordered the investigations included Rotterdam, Eindhoven and Zoetermeer. Utrecht halted the investigations after concerns about […]
Academics & Education
France to shut down another mosque linked to Islamist extremism
(Radio France) French Interior Minister [Gerald Darmanin] has ordered authorities to close a mosque in the north-west, following evidence it preached radical Islamism. Since the murder of teacher Samuel Paty by an Islamist a year ago, France has been cracking down on […]
Government & Politics
Germany: Cologne’s mosques to play call to prayer on Fridays Cologne's mayor said allowing the muezzin call to be heard was a 'sign of respect.' Under a new agreement, the city's mosques will be able to broadcast their call to prayer for two years, subject to renewal.
(Deutsche Welle) The Central Mosque of Cologne will be permitted to broadcast its call to prayer over loudspeakers on Friday afternoons, officials said on Monday. All 35 mosques in the western German city will now be able to play the call for up to five […]
Government & Politics
Germany’s Cologne to allow public Muslim call to prayer in two-year pilot scheme Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker said that the decision came in response to requests, calling it 'a sign of mutual acceptance of religion.'
(New Arab) Municipal authorities in the western German city of Cologne have announced that the Muslim call to prayer will be allowed to be recited on loudspeakers on Fridays, when Muslims hold weekly congregational prayers. The public call to prayer, known in Arabic […]
Crime
Appeal court convicts six worshippers of attack in mosque
(Swiss Info) Six people have had their convictions upheld for detaining and attacking two other worshippers at a controversial mosque, which has since been shut down. The attack took place in the An’Nur mosque in the northeastern Swiss city of Winterthur in […]
Discrimination & “Islamophobia”
Quebec municipal party’s comments about Islam prompt hate speech complaint Party disparages Islam in political platform
(CBC) A Quebec City resident has filed a complaint to Elections Québec denouncing hate speech in a fringe municipal party’s platform. Radio-Canada obtained an email sent to the Quebec City returning officer, in which the plaintiff says Alliance Citoyenne de Québec (ACQ) made […]
Clerics & Preachers
France moves against ‘radical’ Muslim groups, centres: minister
(AFP) France is moving to shut six mosques and break up several associations suspected of producing radical Islamic propaganda, Interior Minister [Gerald] Darmanin said on Tuesday. A third of the 89 places of worship “suspected of being radical” and flagged by the […]
Clerics & Preachers
Ex-Islamic radical says extremists are present in every Swedish mosque
(Breitbart) A former radical Islamic Salafist preacher says that radicalism is present in every Swedish mosque and that Salafism is becoming more and more popular with younger people. Anas Khalifa, who had been a radical Salafist preacher for around 20 years, was […]
Children & Teens
Northern Virginia imam charged with indecent liberties
(AP) The imam at a northern Virginia mosque has been charged with sexually assaulting a girl who had sought his help. Fairfax County police said Tuesday that the 36-year-old imam, a Maryland resident, served as imam for the last nine years at […]
Clerics & Preachers
French court acquits imam of incitement for sermon that cited hadith urging Muslim violence against Jews
(Algemeiner) A French court has acquitted an imam in the city of Toulouse of incitement to racial hatred for a sermon he gave in 2017 that quoted a hadith — a saying attributed to the Prophet Muhammed — predicting the mass killing […]
Academics & Education
School board member whose father led 9/11 hijackers’ mosque opposes resolution honoring victims Says resolution honoring victims of terror attacks is not 'anti-racist'
(Daily Wire) A school board member whose father was on the board of the mosque attended by 9/11 hijackers and hired as imam a top Al-Qaeda operative on Wednesday forcefully opposed a resolution honoring the victims of the attacks. Abrar Omeish is […]
Discrimination & “Islamophobia”
ADL CEO: We ‘apologize without caveat’ for opposing Islamic center near Ground Zero
(JTA) Eleven years ago, the Anti-Defamation League surprised many by opposing an Islamic center planned for Lower Manhattan, blocks from the World Trade Center site [of] the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, even as its leader denounced anti-Muslim bigotry. Now, the ADL’s CEO […]
Children & Teens
Records detail sex abuse allegations against youth director at Tampa mosque A lawsuit says the Islamic Society of Tampa Bay turned a blind eye toward signs that Ehab Ghoneim drugged and molested a number of young boys
(Tampa Bay Times) A 15-year-old boy at the center of a lawsuit against the Islamic Society of Tampa Bay was raised to be a devout Muslim, active in his congregation and devoted to his prayer sessions, his lawyers say. So when his […]
Interfaith
Mosque boss quizzed over ‘civilised Taliban’ post shared ‘Nazi Israel’ clips (LINK ONLY)
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Children & Teens
$5 million lawsuit accuses former Tampa Islamic youth director of drugging, molesting ‘multiple boys’
(WFLA) The Islamic Society of Tampa Bay Area is accused of concealing the sexual abuse of “multiple boys” in a lawsuit that claims the suspect in a criminal case who was the congregation’s youth director “groomed” one of the children and later […]
Government & Politics
Treasury Department to release impounded religious tiles
(AP) The U.S. Treasury Department is releasing a shipment of tiles that were intended for a northern Virginia mosque but were confiscated at Dulles International Airport after they were determined to have violated sanctions on Iran. Word of the release came through […]
Government & Politics
Sanctions on Iran block mosque from claiming religious tiles
(AP) A northern Virginia mosque is asking the Biden administration to release a set of religious tiles that were confiscated at Dulles International Airport after they were deemed to violate sanctions on Iran. At a news conference Tuesday at the Manassas Mosque, […]
Children & Teens
Pinellas man charged with sexually abusing kids he met as youth director Police: Ehab Ghoneim, 51, met the minors while volunteering at a Tampa Bay mosque.
(Tampa Bay Times) A 51-year-old Pinellas Park man has been arrested after police say he engaged in sex acts with children he met while volunteering as a youth director at a mosque in the Tampa Bay area. Police received a tip in […]
Interfaith
ADL and PayPal: Defunding extremists or censoring opponents? (UPDATED)
Why have the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) and American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) urged PayPal to cancel its planned project with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to investigate and close accounts the ADL considers too extreme? At first blush, the PayPal project may sound […]
Mosques
Study finds the American mosque increasingly a melting pot of Islamic traditions The report, conducted every 10 years, found American Sunni mosques are blending various schools of Islamic jurisprudence or madhabs.
(Religion News) The American mosque is becoming more American. At least according to Ihsan Bagby, who has authored a report for the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding based on a … new survey of American mosques. The report, conducted every 10 […]
Clerics & Preachers
Mosque imam sacked in France for reciting verses deemed ‘contrary to values of Republic’ Human rights advocate criticizes French interior minister for targeting imams, for asking governor to dismiss imam
(Anadolu) The imam of a mosque in France’s Loire region was dismissed at the behest of Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, on the grounds that the verse and hadith the former recited in the Eid al-Adha prayer sermon were deemed “contrary to the […]
Clerics & Preachers
Entrenched antisemitism among imams serving US Muslim communities needs to be challenged, scholar tells major conference
(Algemeiner) “I was wrong,” said Mohammed Al-Azdee, with disarming candor. An associate professor of communication theory at Bridgeport University in Connecticut, the Iraqi-born Al-Azdee was speaking to the Algemeiner in detail about his latest research project: examining the content of khutbahs, the […]
Law Enforcement
Father of Brighton jihadi brothers killed fighting in Syria charged with terrorism offences (LINK ONLY)
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Children & Teens
French teen harassed over anti-Islam videos visits mosque
(AFP) A French teenager whose criticism of Islam saw her targeted with a barrage of online abuse met with the imam of the main Paris mosque [Thursday], a visit she said she hoped would “calm things down for everyone.” It came a […]
Government & Politics
French Senate adopts anti-terrorism bill with controversial provisions Bill blocks access to archives and strengthens internet surveillance to prevent terrorism
(Anadolu) France’s Senate adopted a controversial bill early Wednesday aimed at strengthening anti-terrorism measures and intelligence with provisions to shut down places of worship and blocking access to the state’s secret archives to strengthen internal security. The bill, which was approved by […]
Academics & Education
Labour candidate in Batley and Spen by-election left ‘intimidated’ by anti-LGBT protester (LINK ONLY)
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Government & Politics
Extremist mosque repeatedly ignores French govt orders to close
(Breitbart) An extremist Salafist mosque in the city of Marseille has been ordered to close several times over the last five years by French authorities but continues to refuse to obey the orders. The mosque, located in the Consolat area of northern […]
Law Enforcement
Mosque sting operation will get Supreme Court treatment The FBI had to pull the plug on the operation when someone called the police on its informant disguised as a Muslim advocating violence against the United States.
(Courthouse News) Wading into a decade-old class action, the Supreme Court agreed Monday to look at the FBI’s use of an informant to collect information from several Los Angeles and Orange County mosques for more than a year. The FBI petitioned the […]
Christians
Church criticises Austrian government’s ‘Islam map’
(AFP) The Austrian Catholic church on Friday became the latest religious group to criticise a government-backed online map of hundreds of Muslim organisations which sparked violence against the Muslim minority. The highly controversial map shows details of more than 600 Muslim associations […]