Is India’s BJP to blame for reports of rising Islamophobia?

 

Attacks against Muslims have allegedly increased since the Bharatiya Janata Party took power.

Left homeless for protesting against hate speech in India. That is what dozens of people whose houses have been demolished say has happened to them.

Most are Muslims. But the demolitions took place as emotions were running high across India.

Indian officials demolish houses of Muslims after protests

 

Authorities in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh have demolished the houses of several Muslims they allege are linked to recent protests that turned violent.

The demonstrations happened after derogatory remarks were made by two former leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party about the Prophet Muhammad.

Is France legalising Islamophobia?

 

As Ramadan begins this week, many Muslims in France are bracing themselves for the passage of a controversial new law.

Recently approved by the Senate, the “anti-separatism” bill aims to stop radicalisation. It doesn’t name any specific religion, but includes provisions that critics say single out France’s six million Muslims. If passed, the government would have new powers to close places of worship that get foreign funding and/or preach certain ideologies.

Medieval Chinese Historian Describes Islam (and their Buddha "Ma Hia Wu") // "Zhu Fan Zhi" (1225)

 

France, Islam and Secularism | Start Here

 

French President Emmanuel Macron says he wants to get tough on “Islamist separatism”. So why does his proposed new law have some people feeling like he is targeting Muslims?

The role of women in Islam | DW Documentary

 

Is there room for feminism in the Muslim world? The role of women in Islam is a frequent subject of controversy. Few other religions are so tainted with bias. But does Islam have any justification for its discrimination against women?

Indonesia: Diversity under threat

For a long time Indonesia was considered a model for a moderate form of Islam. There have been increasing indications that radical Muslims are gaining more and more influence in the most populous Islamic country in the world. Far more Muslims live here than in the Middle East. Indonesia is made up of more than 17,000 islands. Its population numbers over 270 million people. Following the end of the brutal Suharto dictatorship in 1998, the country became a model for a democratic Islamic state. But in recent years, Islamist hate preachers have gained influence and steadily undermined religious tolerance. Indonesia's Christian minority feels more and more marginalized.

Uighurs: Nowhere To Call Home

101 East follows Chinese Uighurs as they flee what they call repression and detainment in their homeland.

"The first thing they asked me was to take off my clothes… They put me in the cell with the drug addicts and with the killers and they beat me."

Abduweli Ayup, a Uighur, alleges he was raped and tortured while in detention in China for 15 months.

His is one of a growing number of stories recounted by Uighurs fleeing their homeland, as China faces increasing criticism of its treatment of the country's Muslim population.

🇮🇳 🇵🇰 The Kashmir conflict, explained | Al Jazeera English

Hip-Hop Hijabis

A musical journey of faith that follows Britain's first female Muslim hip-hop duo on tour.

This is a universal story about friendship, love and idealism, and two young women finding their place in the world.

Muneera and Sukina are Poetic Pilgrimage, Britain's first female Muslim hip-hop duo. And this is their personal, spiritual and physical journey.

As a tour of the UK takes the women into diverse communities, they remain undeterred by the fact that some Muslims consider music and public female performances to be forbidden.

Islamophobia in the USA

Who and what is behind the rise of anti-Islamic sentiment in the United States?

The September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 was a watershed moment in America's relationship with the Arab world. Amid the grief and US military response that followed, American fear of the threat of international "terrorism" grew.

George W Bush's so-called "crusade" against what he labelled the "axis of evil" fuelled suspicion of the Middle East as a whole, and as US military action increased and led to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, this fear turned into one of Arabs generally and Muslims in particular.

With the rise of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as ISIS, and the way the mainstream US media reports on it, fear of Islam further increased, tending to demonise Muslims and portray them and their faith as dangerous and violent.

Donald Trump Will Give A Speech On Islam In Saudi Arabia

As hard, or difficult to believe that Donald Trump will give a speech on Islam in Saudi Arabia.  This  is Donald Trump we're speaking of here.

Trump on Muslims: 'They're not coming to this country if I'm president'

On Muslims coming to the U.S.

At a rally in December 2015 in Mount Pleasant, S.C., Trump defended his plan for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims" by comparing it with former president Franklin Roosevelt's decision to inter Japanese Americans during the Second World War. 

In support of a Muslim database.

"I would certainly implement that. Absolutely," Trump told an NBC News reporter between campaign events in November 2015 while in Newton, Iowa. 

At a December 2015 rally in Charleston, South Carolina, just a few days after the San Bernardino shooting, Trump told thousands of supporters:

"Donald J. Trump is calling for a complete and total shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on."

"I think Islam hates us," Trump told Anderson Cooper on CNN, after the host asked him whether Islam was at war with the West. "There is a tremendous hatred there. We have to get to the bottom of it."

Cooper then asked whether Trump believed the hatred was in the Islamic religion itself.

"You're going to have to figure that out," Trump replied. "You'll get another Pulitzer."

"We can't allow people who have this hatred coming into the United States and of people who are not Muslim."

Caribbean to Caliphate

Why has the Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago become one of the largest recruitment hubs for ISIL in the West?

The Caribbean state of Trinidad and Tobago is traditionally most famous for its spectacular annual carnival, its cricketing prowess and of being the birthplace of calypso music.

But more recently it's been getting a more disturbing reputation - as the nation with the highest recruitment rates of ISIL fighters in the Western Hemisphere.

So why have so many young Trinidadians been driven to travel thousands of kilometres to participate in the conflicts in Iraq and Syria? 

According to Imam Yasin Abu Bakr, the leader of the Jamaat al-Muslimeen group, one of the main reasons why young black men are joining ISIL is their marginalisation. 

Islamophobia in the USA

An investigation into who and what is behind the rise of anti-Islamic sentiment in the United States

The September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 was a watershed moment in America's relationship with the Arab world. Amid the grief and US military response that followed, American fear of the threat of international "terrorism" grew.

George W Bush's so-called "crusade" against what he labelled the "axis of evil" fuelled suspicion of the Middle East as a whole, and as US military action increased and led to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, this fear turned into one of Arabs generally and Muslims in particular.

With the rise of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as ISIS, and the way the mainstream US media reports on it, fear of Islam further increased, tending to demonise Muslims and portray them and their faith as dangerous and violent.

The Veil

Why do some women decide to wear the veil, while others opt to keep their hair and faces uncovered?

In 2008, before the Arab Spring and the recent controversies in France and elsewhere, the debate about whether Muslim women should wear the veil was already beginning to grow.

Al Jazeera's Everywoman series travelled to Egypt to find out more about why some women choose to wear a veil, while others opt to keep their hair and faces uncovered.

The film reveals much about contrasting attitudes, about freedoms and choices, about perceptions of modesty and privacy and about the strong reactions that women get, whichever decision they make.

The Caliph: Foundation Part 1

For almost 13 centuries, from the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 to the overthrow of the last Ottoman caliph in 1924, the Islamic world was ruled by a caliph.

Translated from the Arabic ‘Khalifa’, the word ‘caliph’ means successor or deputy.

The caliph was considered the successor to the Prophet Muhammad.

It is a term that has, at times, been abused.

In June 2014, a militant group calling itself the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (known as ISIL or ISIS) declared the establishment of a caliphate and proclaimed its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a caliph. This proclamation was rejected by the overwhelming majority of the world’s Muslims.

ISIL had attempted to appropriate a title imbued with religious and political significance – and in doing so had cast a dark shadow over a rich history.

This is the story of the caliph, a title that originated 1,400 years ago and that spanned one of the greatest empires the world has ever known.

Does the Muslim world have the leaders it needs?

Members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation meet in Istanbul.

As more than 30 leaders from Islamic countries gather in the Turkish city of Istanbul, the main message has been one of unity.

But many say it's hard to disguise the fact the Muslim world is deeply divided.

The leaders of two of the biggest countries in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Iran, are locked on opposing sides of the conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

Meanwhile, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and its ideology threatens to destabilise or consume nations around the world.

Science In A Golden Age: Al-Khwarizmi: The father of algebra

We explore the origins of algebra and mathematics that underpin the science of flight and the transport of the future.

None of the great achievements of modern science would be possible without the mathematisation of science and the development of algebra.

The word algebra stems from the Arabic word al-jabr, which has its roots in the title of a 9th century manuscript written by the mathematician Al-Khwarizmi.

Al-Khwarizmi's Kitab al-mukhtasar fi hisab al-jabr wal-muqabala (The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing) was a pioneering piece of work - offering practical answers for land distribution, rules on inheritance and distributing salaries.

The Great Divide

Is anti-Islamic sentiment threatening Australia's celebrated multicultural identity?


Across Australia, the fear of violence inspired by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has created a growing intolerance towards the nation's Muslim community.

It is fuelling a rise of ultra-nationalist groups determined to defend what they say is the Australian way of life.

But how representative is this hatred in a country known for its multiculturalism?

San Bernardino shooting: How not to cover breaking news

We look at the divisive and sensationalist media coverage of the mass shooting; plus, the rise of social news videos.



As televised news events go, it had a touch of the surreal about it.

Two days after the San Bernardino mass shooting, scores of reporters stormed into the home of Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, two of the crime's main suspects, broadcasting live while rummaging through their personal effects.

Airing images of family members and releasing sensitive material that only a few hours earlier had been part of an FBI investigation, the coverage brought the journalistic ethics of a number of news organisations into question.

Hashtags like #Thisisntjournalism were trending while reporters were still in the house, live on air.

The ensuing media coverage, which combines two big issues in the US right now - the so-called war on terror and gun control - prompted Republican presidential contender, Donald Trump, to call for a blanket ban on Muslims entering the US, while several media outlets went into a frenzy focusing on the suspects' religious beliefs as a primary motive for the killings.