Lars Vilks, the Swedish artist who became controversial in 2007 for drawing the Prophet Muhammad with a dog’s body, died in a car accident on Sunday, October 3, 2021. According to investigators, the collision also killed two police officers who were escorting Vilks. The accident happened in the municipality of Markaryd, Kronoberg County, in southern Sweden.
The economic marginalization of Muslims in India is becoming more apparent while their livelihood suffers frequent attacks from Hindu nationalists. The attacks encompass small-time ambulant vendors, shop owners, and even industrialized businesses.
On Monday, September 27, 2021, a session court in Lahore, Pakistan, found a school principal guilty of blasphemy charges. Salma Tanveer was charged with blasphemy in 2013 for claiming that she is the last Prophet of Allah. Judge Mansoor Qureshi announced Monday afternoon that they ordered the death penalty for Tanveer.
Local officials in China’s Xinjiang province announced that a prominent Uyghur real estate businessman and philanthropist, Yaqub Haji, died in prison. Investigating the social media of Haji’s families and friends, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that his body was handed over to his family on September 6, 2021. There is no available information as to when and how Haji died.
The Taliban ordered all barbers in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, to stop cutting hairs and trimming or shaving off beards. The new mandate was announced Monday, September 27, by the Ministries of Prayer and Guidance and the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Ministry of Vice and Virtue) in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah.
Mullah Nooruddin Turabi, one of the founders of the Taliban, announced that harsh punishments, including executions, will be implemented again. During an interview with the Associated Press (AP) on September 22, Turabi announced that the Taliban would once again carry out executions and amputations of hands. Not in public, of course, because they’ve “changed” as they like to say.
Nur Sajat, a 36-year old cosmetics entrepreneur from Malaysia, is wanted after being charged by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department with violating Sharia law. In 2018, Muhammad Sajjad Kamaruz Zaman, popularly knwon as Nur Sajat, wore a baju kurung, a traditional custom worn by women. She left Malaysia in January 2021. A warrant was issued last February 23 after she failed to show for her hearing.
Egypt’s former Culture Minister, Gaber Asfour, has vocally expressed his support in removing the religious identity section from Egypt’s National ID. Responding to a question on the public opinion program, Rai Aam, Asfour asked, “Do you have to specify in the card that you are a civilian Muslim or a Salafi Muslim? This no longer happens; we are not in the time of the Taliban.”
The Indonesian National Police’s Criminal Investigation Agency or Bareskrim confirmed on the weekend of September 20 that the detained former police general attacked another inmate. Former Insp. Gen. Napoleon Bonaparte assaulted Muhammad “Kace” Kosman due to blasphemy.
In the afternoon of September 4, 2021, a woman was doing gardening work in Wilmersdorf, an inner-city southwest of central Berlin. A 29-year old Afghan man approached the 58-year old landscaper; they had a chat before the incident.
