News: Europe

Clerics & Preachers

Germany cuts funding to largest Turkish-Islamic organization DITIB The German federal government had provided funds to DITIB for counter-extremism and refugee aid programs. The Turkish-Islamic group has been under fire over a number of scandals.

August 30, 2018   

(Deutsche Welle) The German government will no longer be funding projects run with the country’s largest Islamic umbrella group, the Interior Ministry in Berlin said on Thursday. Since the start of the year, the federal government has not approved any funding for […]

Children & Teens

Female genital mutilation: Number of affected women rising in Germany Women's rights organization Terre des Femmes estimates that 65,000 women affected by female genital mutilation (FGM) are living in Germany. DW's Kate Brady met one Somali woman who is calling for an end to the practice.

August 27, 2018   

(Deutsche Welle) “I was about 11 or 12 years old. Several people held me down. Then they cut me. They laid me on the table. I can still see the image. I had such horrific pain. Then they sewed me together. They […]

Academics & Education

‘Terre des Femmes’ pushes headscarf ban for girls The women's rights organization 'Terre des Femmes' has launched a petition calling for a headscarf ban for minors in schools and daycare centers in Germany. But the initiative has courted controversy.

August 23, 2018   

(Deutsche Welle) A girl below the age of 18 wearing a headscarf? The human rights organization “Terre des Femmes” believes it is morally wrong and is demanding that the German government ban headscarves for girls in schools and daycare centres. On Thursday, […]

Crime

Attacks on Muslims drop in Germany in first half of 2018 The number of attacks on Muslims and mosques has fallen significantly in Germany, new figures show. But lawmakers warn the country is still failing to include its Muslim community in society.

August 22, 2018   

(Deutsche Welle) In the first six months of 2018, there were 320 offenses committed against Muslims, mosques and other institutions associated with Islam in Germany, according to information from the Interior Ministry. That’s significantly lower than the nearly 500 cases reported during […]

News: Europe

Deep sadness and growing distrust: Inside the neighbourhood that’s produced a tenth of the UK’s convicted Islamist terrorists HuffPost UK spoke to people in Sparkbrook, home of Westminster crash suspect Salih Khater.

August 20, 2018   

(HuffPost) “If my mind can conceive it and my heart can believe it, then I can achieve it,” reads a sign welcoming visitors to the Birmingham neighbourhood of Sparkbrook. It’s a quote from the legendary boxer [Muhammad] Ali, whose legacy has a […]

Arts & Entertainment

Comedian Eshaan Akbar on trying to highlight the humour in Islam 'There’s no representation on TV of Muslims having a laugh. There isn’t anything out there that allows white British people to see Muslims just being normal,' he says

August 19, 2018   

(National-UAE) Most comedians have to put up with a fair degree of heckling in their careers, but British comedian Eshaan Akbar has received violent threats for his new stand-up routine at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In Prophet Like It’s Hot, the 34-year-old […]

Crime

Citizens’ initiative to ban FGM set for parliamentary consideration A citizens' initiative demanding a law to ban female genital mutilation in Finland has gained 50,000 signatures, meaning Parliament must now consider the motion.

August 18, 2018   

(Yle) A citizens’ initiative demanding that lawmakers draw up a specific law to outlaw FGM in Finland has attracted over 50,000 signatures. This means it has met the threshold enacted in a 2012 Finnish law, and the Finnish Parliament must now put […]

Crime

Yazidi woman encounters ‘Islamic State’ captor in Germany The past she was attempting to flee came back to haunt a young Yazidi woman in a small town in Germany. Her former IS tormentor confronted her on the street and 'told me he knew everything about me.'

August 17, 2018   

(Deutsche Welle) A 19-year-old Yazidi woman has fled Germany with her family after encountering the “Islamic State” (IS) fighter who had enslaved her in Mosul on the streets of Schwäbisch Gmünd, a town in Baden-Württemberg. Ashwaq Haji Hamid arrived in the southwestern state with her […]

Clothing

Germany tolerant of LGBT neighbors, but not Muslim ones While homophobia has seen a drastic decrease in Germany over the years, Islamophobia has remained stubbornly stagnant. A new Playboy poll has found that most Germans are opposed to mosques, hijab, and refugee homes.

August 16, 2018   

(Deutsche Welle) A new poll published on Thursday by Playboy Germany shows that while national hostility to minority sexualities may have taken a nosedive over the years, hostility to Islam remains depressingly stagnant. According to the survey, which polled over 1,000 men […]