All posts tagged: Islam

Spain Asks EU for Help Processing Migrants in Ceuta

Spain Asks EU for Help Processing Migrants in Ceuta

Published by Sam Flores

MADRID, Aug 28 (Reuters) – Spain asked ⁠on ⁠Friday for help ⁠from the European Border and Coast Guard ​Agency (Frontex) in processing migrants in the North African enclave ‌of Ceuta almost a month ‌after tens of thousands rushed across the ⁠border ⁠from Morocco.  Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska sent a request ​to Beate Gminder, the European Commission’s director general for migration and home affairs, for help from Frontex, a ​European Union agency, to screen migrants in the enclave ⁠illegally.  Authorities say ⁠between 5,000 and ⁠8,000 ​people remain in Ceuta after at least 72,000 people crossed ​from Morocco on ⁠July  30 in a rush that killed 82 migrants on the Spanish side of the border, with 14 more deaths confirmed by Morocco. Spain also asked ⁠for 10 more officers from Frontex to help with migrant ⁠screening.  Marlaska’s request comes amid rising tensions in Ceuta after a series of protests by residents who have demanded the migrants leave.  Tents used by migrants on Trampolin Beach, where many migrants have been camping out, have been attacked and set …

Muslim gangs force white prisoners to convert to Islam

Muslim gangs force white prisoners to convert to Islam

Published by Sam Flores

Ministers have been urged to investigate a surge in white prisoners being forced to convert to Islam by Muslim gangs. Ministry of Justice (MoJ) data show that one in five Muslims in prisons in England and Wales is white, nearly four times the rate of 5.8 per cent in the general population. The number of Muslim prisoners in jails in England and Wales has also increased and accounts for nearly one in five (18 per cent) of the prison population, despite making up 6.5 per cent of the general population. The figures have been revealed by Nick Timothy, the shadow justice secretary, who urged the Government to investigate and stamp out forced conversions. It follows reports by government advisers highlighting concerns that gangs in some jails are ordering prisoners to convert to Islam or face violence. “The percentage of Muslims who are white in our prisons is so vastly higher than in the general population it raises serious questions,” said Mr Timothy. “We know that experts have warned repeatedly about forced conversions taking place behind …

Video Appears to Show 600 People Abducted in Nigeria Mosque Attack, Residents Say

Video Appears to Show 600 People Abducted in Nigeria Mosque Attack, Residents Say

Published by Sam Flores

By Ahmed Kingimi and Hamza Ibrahim MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, Aug 24 (Reuters) – ⁠An ⁠armed group has posted a video ⁠showing what residents said were about 600 women, children and older people ​abducted in an attack on a mosque in Nigeria’s north-central Niger State last week.  The video, posted on Sunday on ‌Facebook and WhatsApp, showed large groups ‌of people seated in a forested area surrounded by armed men. Several children could be heard ⁠crying in the ⁠background. Mass kidnappings for ransom have become common in parts of northwestern and ​north-central Nigeria, where heavily armed gangs frequently raid villages, schools and highways and hold them until paid large sums of money. Gunmen have increasingly expanded south, beyond hotspots in the north. ‘WE HAVE IDENTIFIED OUR ELDERS, RELATIVES’ The video surfaced ​two days after the latest kidnapping when gunmen attacked worshippers at the mosque in Dekara village ⁠during Friday ⁠prayers, taking people away ⁠in what residents ​said were simultaneous raids on several communities. In the video, a gunman speaking in Hausa addressed families ​of the captives and …

Texas Seeks Federal Probe of Airport Washing Facilities, Muslim Group Denounces Move

Texas Seeks Federal Probe of Airport Washing Facilities, Muslim Group Denounces Move

Published by Sam Flores

WASHINGTON, Aug 21 (Reuters) – Texas Governor Greg ⁠Abbott ⁠on Friday sought a federal ⁠probe into airport facilities for ritual washing before Islamic prayers, a move ​that a Muslim advocacy group called an “anti-Muslim political stunt.” In a letter to the Department of Justice, ‌Abbott called on the department to ‌immediately review the ablution facilities at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and George Bush Intercontinental Airport, ⁠casting them ⁠as discriminatory. “Because the airports receive federal funds, they are subject to ​numerous conditions attached to that funding – including the requirement to comply with all applicable laws prohibiting discrimination,” Abbott’s office said in a statement. Many Muslims wash their faces, arms and legs before daily prayers. “These are ​not ‘Muslim-only’ spaces any more than a nursing room or an interfaith prayer room is ‘Christian-only’ or ‘mothers-only,’” ⁠said ⁠the Texas chapter of the ⁠Council on ​American-Islamic Relations, an advocacy group. “They are accommodations, open to any traveler, that happen to be ​used mostly by the Muslim ⁠community. That is not discrimination. That is what accessible public infrastructure looks …

Outrage As Texas Schools Bus Kids To Mosque So They Can “Experience Islam”

Outrage As Texas Schools Bus Kids To Mosque So They Can “Experience Islam”

Published by Jenni Sidey

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News, Outrage has exploded as public school students in Texas were loaded onto yellow school buses and driven straight to an Islamic center so they could experience Islam ‘up close’. The organizers could barely contain their excitement. In their own promotional video, they celebrated how the kids showed up and potentially left transformed. This is not happening in some blue-state sanctuary city. This is Texas. ? OMG. Terrifying development as taxpayer funded public school students in Texas are bussed to an ISLAMIC CENTER so they can see Islam up close and personal The Muslims who run the mosque are ecstatic with how many kids are showing up to possibly be converted ? This shouldn’t… — Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 13, 2026 Over 30 high school students from Humble ISD’s Kingwood High School and Atascocita High School were taken on a school-day field trip to the Centro Islamico, operated by IslamInSpanish in the Houston area. The visit included a tour, lunch from halal food trucks, observation of midday prayer, and …

Emerging anti-immigration sentiment in Japan obscures a surprising history of strategic engagement with Islam

Emerging anti-immigration sentiment in Japan obscures a surprising history of strategic engagement with Islam

Published by Sam Flores

(The Conversation) — A recent increase in anti-immigrant sentiment in Japan has led people from some religious and ethnic groups who were not born in Japan to face hostility. Hate speech has spread on social media, and some mosques have been targeted with abusive messages. Over the past five years, the number of Muslims in Japan has nearly doubled, from 230,000 in 2019 to 420,000 at the end of 2024. Most Muslim immigrants are workers from Southeast Asia and South Asia. All this has been unfolding amid a larger demographic change. The population of mixed-race Japanese children, known as “hafu,” or half, has also increased in Japan over the past three decades. The number of children born in Japan who have one or two non-Japanese parents reached 4.66% in 2023, up from just 1.3% in 1987. A long-standing myth that Japan is a homogeneous society, which has often been linked to Japanese “racial purity,” has exacerbated anxieties over demographic change. This is despite the reality that Japan has its own indigenous population in the north …

Connecticut legislation aims to expand Islam education in public schools

Connecticut legislation aims to expand Islam education in public schools

Published by Sam Flores

HARTFORD, Conn. (RNS) — For nearly 25 years, education on Islam in public schools has been met largely with fears of indoctrination. Now, the state of Connecticut is leaning into the debate. A new state provision, passed as part of a larger education bill last month, directs the Connecticut State Department of Education to develop instructional resources on Arab and Islamic studies, offering public schools optional materials designed to expand how students learn about the history, culture and contributions of Arab and Islamic civilizations. “As with previous legislative directives on Holocaust education, Native American studies, and Asian American and Pacific Islander studies, the Connecticut State Department of Education is convening a Curriculum Design Leadership Team of educators, curriculum leaders, higher education faculty, and other content experts,” a CSDE spokesperson said. The team will identify, review and curate instructional resources before making them available to school districts. Casey Cobb, Neag endowed professor of educational policy at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, said it is hard to predict how widely the Islamic and Arab curriculum will …

Islam, Marxism, Tyranny Ascendant | ZeroHedge

Islam, Marxism, Tyranny Ascendant | ZeroHedge

Published by Jenni Sidey

Authored by Eric Utter via AmericanThinker.com, Canada, the U.K., and France are rapidly morphing into Muslim nations. Iran is run by a motley collection of itinerant thugs and Islamic terrorists. Russia is run by an extreme authoritarian. China, North Korea, Cuba, and various other nations have a communist government. Daniel Ortega is a dictator, like many others, one who recently announced he was suspending elections in Nicaragua. The EU renders the will of the people in several European nations effectively moot.  In Hungary, Victor Orban’s Fidesz Party was recently raided, their servers confiscated. Romanian presidential elections were cancelled back in 2024. And the beat — or beatdown — goes sadly on.  In Germany, efforts are underway to outright ban the Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) party, that nation’s largest opposition party. The ruling Social Democrats and their Brownshirts SS Stasi political police have hilariously been attempting to prove that the AfD is a danger to democracy, largely the way rabidly insane Democrats have said about President Trump and his supporters here in the United States. Local ruling …

John Esposito, scholar who fought against misconceptions of Islam, dies

John Esposito, scholar who fought against misconceptions of Islam, dies

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — Public opinion of Islam has veered dramatically over the past 50 years between those who have characterized it as a violent faith fundamentally opposed to Western values and those who have sought to understand Islam’s plurality, diversity and complexity as practiced in the lives of Muslims. Among the latter was John Esposito, one of the foremost non-Muslim scholars of Islam, who died July 15 at the age of 86 following complications from heart surgery. Esposito, who was professor emeritus of religion, international affairs and Islamic studies at Georgetown University, was distinguished for his careful scholarship that sought to correct Western misconceptions about Islam. In as many as 55 books and a lifetime of teaching, he challenged the “Clash of Civilizations” theory of Islam as proposed by scholars Samuel Huntington and Bernard Lewis. Esposito sought to build bridges between Westerners and Muslims, becoming a go-to source for sensitive and nuanced portrayals of Islam among journalists, diplomats, foreign policy advisers and scholars. “He had a humanizing factor in addition to his academic knowledge, and then …

After mall stabbing, Utah faith leaders warn against anti-Muslim rhetoric

After mall stabbing, Utah faith leaders warn against anti-Muslim rhetoric

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — Two days after a man allegedly stabbed a Muslim worker in a Utah mall at least 15 times, religious groups are warning of the effects of escalating anti-Muslim rhetoric. “The hate crime is so abhorrent because it does not only affect the victim. It affects the whole Muslim community,” said Imam Shuaib Din, who leads the Utah Islamic Center in West Jordan, Utah.  The 48-year-old suspect told police he targeted the victim because of his religion and said he “intends to kill Muslims,” according to a probable cause statement. According to police records, Peter Michael Larsen  approached Syed Sohail Uddin, a worker at a kiosk at the Valley Fair Mall near Salt Lake City, and asked him where he was from and what his religion was. Soon after, Larsen pulled out a knife and stabbed Uddin repeatedly. Court records and videos of the incident show bystanders punching and pinning down the suspect to get the knife from him. Police said he posed a threat if released because of “his violent actions … ideologies …