Iranian authorities announced that two men accused of blasphemy were hanged amidst a rising number of executions since the protests that rocked the country following the death of Mahsa Amini under police custody in September 2022.
In a rare display of unity amongst India’s major religions, leaders from the country’s Muslim, Christian, Sikh, and Jain communities join hands with Hindu nationalist groups in opposing calls to recognize same-sex marriage in the country.
This move comes as India’s Supreme Court hears petitions filed by various LGBTQIA+ organizations in the country, pleading to legalize same-sex marriage. These petitions were filed around five years after a landmark case in 2018 that decriminalized homosexuality in India.
Minneapolis recently amended its noise ordinance to allow mosques to broadcast adhan or amplified prayer calls for Muslims at any time of the day, making it the first major city in the United States to allow all five daily calls to be broadcast at any time.
Officials in Pakistan announced on April 30th that police arrested two Muslim clerics for allegedly raping a 10-year-old boy in a religious school east of the country’s Punjab province.
Pakistani police arrested two Muslim clerics for allegedly raping a 10-year-old boy in a religious school in eastern Punjab province, officials said Sunday. https://t.co/W46Fs92oDW
With the continuing surge of Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) ideology in India since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was elected in 2014, the country is also seeing a rise of female militant Hindu nationalists taking up positions in government and even leading the fight for their ideals.
An Australian Islamic scholar slammed Muslims for allegedly “abandoning jihad,” and describing Hindus and Jewish people with disparaging remarks.
Wissam Haddad, also known as “Abu Ousayd” on social media, made his statements during an address in Sydney, Australia, last April 14th. The sermon, titled “The Month of Victory,” was uploaded to the YouTube channel of Al Madina Dawah Center, a religious center in Sydney, Australia.
Abdul Nafee Al-Rifai made these statements in a show aired on Qanat TV/Channel 9, an Arabic-language channel in Turkey connected to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. The show aired on April 8th.
The legislative body of the African Union is planning to implement new rules to protect victims of ritual attacks and prevent people accused of witchcraft from being harmed and abused.
The Pan-African Parliament, a body attended by representatives from 48 African countries, met in Johannesburg, South Africa, to discuss the adoption of extensive guidelines that seek to help governments across the continent by teaching them strategies on how to tackle dangerous superstitions linked to witchcraft that often leads to attacks and abuse.
Texas lawmakers continue to push religion into schools as proposals to display the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms mandatorily. They will also require educational establishments to grant time for prayer and Bible reading to gain more support.
Japan’s Muslim population doubled in just over a decade.
Islam remains one of the smallest minority religions in Japan, representing around 0.15% of the 126 million people living in Japan. But that may soon change as it grows rapidly in the East Asian country.
