By Javid Hassan With the advent of Ramzan heralding month-long fasting, governments in many Muslim-majority countries have announced new measures against Covid-19 as the virus goes through mutations harmful to human beings. These measures are intended to check social contacts in public places. Even so, the Covid-19 virus continues to plague public health officials in…
The Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has pledged $200 million to the 2021-2025 Raise Your Hand financing campaign of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). GPE is a partnership and funding platform that aims to strengthen education systems in lower-income countries and increase the number of children in school and learning. The announcement was made…
When it comes to safeguarding creation, there is no time to waste — humanity either must live up to its responsibility or continue on a path of self-destruction, Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church, recently said, commemorating Earth Day with a video message. The pope appealed to world leaders to “act with courage, work…
A Malaysian court recently ruled that Christians in Muslim-majority Malaysia can use the word “Allah” in publications, overturning a decades-old ban after a lengthy legal battle that fuelled religious tensions. The Arabic word for God has long been divisive in Malaysia, with Christians complaining attempts to stop them using it. The case began 13 years…
Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman who spent years on death row after being convicted of blasphemy, has published a book about her experiences and her new life. Ms Bibi released a memoir, EnfinLibre, or ‘Finally Free’, written with French journalist Anne-Isabelle Tollet. She was sentenced to death on blasphemy charges by a Pakistani court…
Many Jewish organizations in the U.S. have critiqued the Trump administration’s proposed peace plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Unveiled by President Donald Trump at the White House, the so-called peace plan offered everything the far-right Israelis have been demanding, giving Palestinians nothing concrete but vague economic promises and the tiniest glimmer of hope for…
Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari has said that 90 per cent of all Boko Haram’s victims in the past years have been Muslims.The insurgents began their heinous activities in 2009 after the killing of the leader Mohammed Yusuf. Global Terrorism Index indicates that the group since 2009, has killed tens of thousands and displaced 2.3 million.…
‘The Hague Court Verdict Means So Much to Us’ The UN’s top court has ordered Myanmar to do all it can to prevent genocide against the country’s ethnic Muslim Rohingya minority. A 17-judge panel at the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) said its order for so-called provisional measures meant to protect the Rohingya was…
Indonesia’s largest Islamic organization NahdlatulUlama (NU) has highlighted the importance of social activism in addressing interreligious conflicts during a discussion with religious leaders held as part of the Abrahamic Faiths Initiative forum in Rome recently. The discussion, held at the Gregorian University, Rome, focused on the stance and measures that can be taken together in…
The UN General Assembly has approved a resolution strongly condemning human rights abuses against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims and other minorities, including arbitrary arrests, torture, rape and deaths in detention. The 193-member world body voted 134-9 with 28 abstentions in favour of the resolution. It also calls on Myanmar’s government to take urgent measures to combat…
