Zakir Naik’s Open Letter: Democrat or an Islamo-Fascist Demagogue?

By Arshad Alam, New Age Islam 12 September, 2016 It is rather rich of Zakir Naik to write an open letter to the government about his perceived sense of persecution at the hands of Indian authorities. As I have written in previously, every person including Zakir Naik should be probed within the due process of law. To create conditions in which he is forced to live outside India without a clinching evidence is hardly excusable. That he is followed by thousands of Muslims who have not become terrorists is proof enough that there is a complex set of causative factors behind every act of terror. A complex phenomenon such as terrorism should not be simplified as the result of the teaching and sermons of some individual. Zakir Naik’s letter...

He May Have Insulted Obama, but Duterte Held up a Long-Hidden Looking Glass to the US

By Adele Webb 09 September 2016 At a press conference at Davao International Airport on Monday, on his way to meet US President Barack Obama and other leaders attending the ASEAN summit, Mr Duterte muttered a few short words in tagalog at the end of a lengthy and irritated reply to a local journalist. With those words, he again made international headlines. If that were all there was to it, we could rightly roll our eyes and move on. After all, Mr Duterte's language is vulgar; his slander of people and groups is liable to incite violence; and his determination to kill drug pushers (to fight "crime with crime") an abuse of power. He should not be defended for any of this. But as someone who has spent a long time studying US-Philippine...

Making Change in Northern Nigeria: Somebody to Look Up to

By Cathy Russell 09/09/2016 Amina Yusuf The first time Amina Yusuf left the borders of her native Nigeria, it was on the trip of a lifetime. She joined five other girls who were selected to see Malala Yousafzai accept the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo at the end of 2014. In that moment, she realized that the world was paying attention to adolescent girls. This meant a great deal to Amina, who has experienced difficult challenges growing up in northern Nigeria. She’s managed to overcome them with support from her family and non-profit organizations, and today, Amina gives back to other girls in her community through mentorship and advocacy. When I travelled to Aubja, Nigeria last month, I met with...

Media in Pakistan Is Under Siege

By Ambreen Agha September 12, 2016 My family has been falsely implicated in drug racket. It is distressing to see that my family is suffering because of my profession. It is difficult to be a journalist in Pakistan and that too in tribal areas. You are punished for bringing out stories that do not sit well with the military establishment, which is ubiquitous here. We see Taliban commanders visiting military quarters in the tribal belt. What happens inside is not for us to know. We are caught between the military and the terrorists. Being a journalist has cost me my family, who disowned me after the slapping of false charges. And now I am without money, looking for alternative means of sustenance. ------An unnamed journalist from...

What Media Is Not Telling Us about AIMPLB’s Stand

By Flavia Agnes Sep 11, 2016 The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has given to the Supreme Court its opinion on triple Talaq and polygamy. As expected, media reports have reacted to the absurd and indefensible statements made by the Board, but the positive aspects in the affidavit seem to have gotten buried beneath the flurry. The affidavit starts on a positive note by stating that the Supreme Court in the 2002 Shamim Ara ruling has already dealt with the issue of instant, arbitrary triple Talaq, and has laid down the test of “reasonable cause” and “prior reconciliation”, and goes even further to state that the principle laid down in the Shamim Ara ruling is the law of the land and a binding precedent. Even while stating...

Triple Talaq and Polygamy: Divorced From Religion

By Zeenat Shaukat Ali Sep 11, 2016 The Muslim Personal Law Board has justified triple talaq and polygamy. Muslim women’s groups fighting for a ban on the two customs say the Board’s reasons are medieval, patriarchal. It’s over to India’s top court now. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) recently told the Supreme Court that “rewriting Personal Laws in the name of social reform” would erode religious freedom guaranteed by the Indian Constitution. AIMPLB said that a man giving triple Talaq to his wife was a better option than him murdering her or burning her alive; that women were less proficient in decision-making and, therefore, this “right” lay with men; and that polygamy was Islamic, banning of which would lead to...

Don’t Confuse Wahhabiat with Kashmiriyat

By M.D. Nalapat 10 September, 2016 No income-tax officer seems at all curious as to how those loyal to Pakistan and who are resident in Kashmir maintain such opulent lifestyles. Recently, CNN aired visuals by Clarissa Ward, a correspondent who claimed to be reporting from “Free Syria”, i.e. that part of the country that had been prised loose from Bashar Assad. While she had to wear a black abaya while in “freedom”, in Assad’s “unfree” Syria, Ward would have been unmolested even in denims or short skirt, presumably dresses that are more familiar to her than the dress she was in while interviewing “freedom loving” fighters. Such hypocrisy is equally commonplace among Ward-style foreign correspondents in Kashmir, who ignore the reality...

Kenya Kills Three Hijabi Women Attackers of Mombasa Police Station

Police said women entered the station claiming they wanted to report a crime Islamic State Female ‘Terrorist Commando’ Found In France India Muslim Women 'Raped' In Fatal Attack 'Over Beef' Muslim Women’s Forums Flay AIMPLB Stand on Triple Talaq She Was Targeted As a Black Muslim Woman In A Football Ad, Here’s How She Responded Brooklyn Woman Attacks Muslim Moms, Attempts to Rip Off Their Hijabs Woman Attacks 2 Muslim Women Pushing Strollers Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau URL: --- Kenya Kills Three Hijabi Women Attackers of Mombasa Police Station 11 September 2016  Three women have been killed after trying to stage an attack at the main police station in the Kenyan port city...