All posts tagged: Islam

How Islamophobic rhetoric leaves an impact on the mental health of Muslim Americans

How Islamophobic rhetoric leaves an impact on the mental health of Muslim Americans

Published by Sam Flores

(The Conversation) — The war with Iran has led to a surge in anti-Muslim rhetoric – spilling into political discourse. U.S. Rep. Randy Fine of Florida posted on X that “the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one,” and added in another post, “We need more Islamophobia, not less.” Similarly, U.S. Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas called for stopping the entry of “Muslims immigrating to America.” A study by the Center for the Study of Organized Hate found that the average number of Islamophobic posts jumped from 2,000 to 6,000 each day on X alone in the first six days of the conflict. I have studied the impact of Islamophobia on mental health over the past two decades, following soaring hate crimes in the wake of 9/11. Research consistently shows that negative portrayals of Muslims shape public attitudes toward Muslims and can lead to increased discrimination, hate crimes and psychological consequences. Increase in Islamophobia Islamophobia in the United States tends to surge during global conflicts, political campaigns and terrorist attacks. Human Rights …

A rural college uses ancient Islamic archives to reconnect students to African legacy

A rural college uses ancient Islamic archives to reconnect students to African legacy

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — In a former segregated school in rural Virginia, an Islamic college has been reconnecting its mostly African American Muslim students with a legacy of faith and scholarship largely erased from mainstream history.  IQOU Theological College, in the town of Charlotte Court House, for the past two years has housed a small, borrowed collection of ancient manuscripts from the West African city of Timbuktu in Mali, a center of Islamic learning that thrived between the 13th and 17th centuries. It’s also a region where many Africans were kidnapped during the transatlantic slave trade.  Hafiz Hassan Ali Qadri, a Quran teacher at the college, said the 17 manuscripts can offer African American Muslims a concrete link to a part of their ancestors’ history. Seeing handwritten works on law, theology, astronomy and other subjects challenges an enduring narrative that enslaved Africans arrived in the United States with little education or scholarly traditions, he said. “It goes full circle, showing that this is where we came from — we came from knowledge,” Qadri said. “And what we’re …

The enduring legacy of medieval Christian depictions of Islam in today’s political discourse

The enduring legacy of medieval Christian depictions of Islam in today’s political discourse

Published by Sam Flores

(The Conversation) — The war with Iran is not just a geopolitical conflict. We see religious rhetoric used to cast strategic interests as a moral or sacred matter. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson described Iran’s majority faith tradition, Shiite Islam, as a “misguided religion” while discussing the ongoing U.S. strikes against Iran on March 4, 2026. A complaint made to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation alleged that same month that an unnamed military commander had said that “President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.” In the Book of Revelation, Armageddon represents the final battle between good and evil, associated with the second coming of Jesus Christ. Soon after the U.S. attack on Iran, right-wing pastor Andrew Sedra commented that “Trump is going after the head of the snake, which is Islam.” He added that “God is using President Trump in a prophetic moment of time to execute judgment on evil and wicked civilizations.” In part, such religious rhetoric draws …

Farage Urged To Sack Candidate Who Said ‘Islam Is A Cancer’

Farage Urged To Sack Candidate Who Said ‘Islam Is A Cancer’

Published by Sam Flores

Nigel Farage has been urged to sack three Reform candidates standing in the upcoming local elections after HuffPost UK unearthed their past social media posts. Voters across England are set to head to the ballot box to elect more than 4,850 councillors on May 7. Reform is expected to do well, having held onto their lead in the opinion polls for more than a year. But, amid wider concerns about the party’s vetting system, HuffPost UK has uncovered several concerning social media posts from three of Reform’s upcoming candidates. Ricky Hodges, who is standing for Reform in Hastings, Tressell, posted a Family Guy meme in October on Facebook, joking about shooting outside No.10. He also claimed “Islam is a cancer” in a Facebook post from July 2025. He wrote: “We have let sharia law into our communities, we have given Muslims priority over our own people whilst they milk our benefits system to find there [sic] mosques! We have an open border with 1000s of Islamic extremists coming in un challenged!” He added: “I for …

US ICE Detains Islamic Society of Milwaukee President Salah Sarsour

US ICE Detains Islamic Society of Milwaukee President Salah Sarsour

Published by Sam Flores

WASHINGTON, April 2 (Reuters) – Islamic Society of Milwaukee President ⁠Salah ⁠Sarsour, who is a Palestinian American, ⁠has been detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, the mosque said ​on Thursday. ISM, which is Wisconsin’s largest mosque, said Sarsour, 53, is a legal permanent resident who has lived in the U.S. ‌for over three decades and was ‌detained on Monday. He grew up in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. “He was pulled over while driving by over 10 ⁠ICE agents with ⁠no cause,” a page on the mosque’s website said, adding he was taken ​out of the state to a detention facility in Chicago before being transferred to a detention center in Indiana. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel cited Othman Atta, the executive director of the mosque, as saying that deportation documents focused on Sarsour’s arrest by Israeli ​authorities as a teenager living in the West Bank to argue he provided material support for extremists. Atta said ⁠Sarsour ⁠was convicted as a teenager in ⁠an Israeli military ​court, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Though …

Faith leaders’ activism shows organized religion can still be a force for good

Faith leaders’ activism shows organized religion can still be a force for good

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — The Rev. Kenny Callahan sat handcuffed in the back of an SUV after distracting ICE from abducting one of his neighbors. “Take me instead,” he yelled. So they did. “I’m not afraid of you,” the pastor of All God’s Children Metropolitan Community Church in Minneapolis told them. The agents visited him in the vehicle three times, as he sat next to two other detainees, asking each time if he was afraid yet. “No,” Callahan answered each time. Finally, one officer told him “Well. You’re white. You wouldn’t be any fun anyway,” and let him go. Callahan’s story, first reported by the local Fox affiliate, is one of many compelling testimonies from the burgeoning revival of religious resistance to authoritarianism in the U.S.  From Jewish groups staging mass protests to Muslim mosques hosting civic defense panels, to Buddhist sanghas practicing “faithful defiance,” the religious left is finding its place in the vanguard of the United States’ pro-democracy movement, showing us that contrary to popular belief organized religion can be a force for good. Faith-based …

More Than 400 Hezbollah Fighters Killed in New War With Israel So Far, Sources Say

More Than 400 Hezbollah Fighters Killed in New War With Israel So Far, Sources Say

Published by Sam Flores

BEIRUT, March 27 (Reuters) – More than ⁠400 ⁠fighters from Hezbollah have been ⁠killed since the Lebanese armed group launched ​the opening salvoes of a new war with Israel on ‌March 2, two sources ‌familiar with Hezbollah’s count told Reuters.  The figure was ⁠the first ⁠overall toll provided of Hezbollah fighters killed in Israel’s ​expanding air and ground campaign in Lebanon. The group has issued sporadic notices for a few individual fighters but has ​not provided an official overall toll.  In a 2023-2024 war ⁠with Israel, ⁠Hezbollah issued daily ⁠death ​notices for each fighter killed and said after the war that ​some 5,000 had ⁠been killed in total.  The Israeli military gave a higher toll of the group’s latest losses than the sources, saying this week it has killed at least 700 ⁠Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, including hundreds of members of the ⁠group’s elite Radwan Force.   Lebanon’s health ministry said on Friday that Israeli strikes and ground operations had killed 1,142 people in Lebanon. They include 122 children, 83 women and 42 medical personnel. The health …

Farage Urged To Sack Candidate Who Said ‘Islam Is A Cancer’

Reform UK Drops Mayoral Candidate Who Compared Jewish Group To ‘Islamists On Horseback’

Published by Sam Flores

Reform UK has reportedly dropped a mayoral candidate after he compared a Jewish community group to “Islamists on horseback”. Chris Parry was standing to be the mayor of Hampshire until he made the shocking remarks about members of Jewish neighbourhood safeguarding group called Shomrim. His remarks came hours after an arson attack on ambulances run by a Jewish charity, Hatzola, in North London, which works alongside Shomrim. A Reform UK spokesperson told the Hampshire Chronicle: “He has been suspended pending an investigation and is no longer our mayoral candidate.” Parry, a retired Royal Navy rear admiral, shared a post on X which asked: “Can Christian’s [sic] in Britain set up their own police and patrol certain neighbourhoods?” Parry added: “Remember that these cosplayers have no more jurisdiction or legal authority than ordinary citizens.” After another user questioned the mayoral candidate over the depiction of Shomrim, he wrote: “They are a community organisation, not a legal entity. It’s the same with Islamists on horseback. But if it offends you, I’ll remove it.” He later told the …