Explosions rocked various parts of Iraq on Thursday during the Shi'ite pilgrimage holiday of Ashura, leaving at least 41 dead, according to the BBC. Iraq has recently seen a fierce upswing in bombings. Of the three blasts targeting the pilgrims, Al Arabiya reports that the major one occurred in Diyala province north of
An Iranian court this month sentenced four Iranian Christians to 80 whiplashes for drinking wine during communion, despite there being no religious ban on alcohol in Christianity. The Islamic Republic of Iran does not condone the drinking of alcohol, not even when it is part of a Christian religious activity it seems. A
Muslims in Brunei who commit adultery can expect to face the death penalty by stoning if found out, according to new sharia (Islamic law) law being introduced in the South East Asian state. The UK's Daily Telegraph has reported the Sultan of Brunei is set to usher in a range of capital and corporal
School children in New York are likely to get two extra days off to mark the biggest annual Muslim holidays, if the city's next mayor gets his way, AFP reports. New York schools currently have mandatory holidays for the Christian festivals Easter and Christmas, and the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Passover.
Hamas is apparently trying to reach out to children, by airing a cartoon promoting its “military wing”, the Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades. The cartoon aired on Hamas’s Al-Aqsa TV on October 11 and was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute. The Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades is responsible for some of the
Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Friday that groups of Syrian rebel forces executed at least 190 civilians and seized over 200 as hostages during a military offensive on August 4. According to the report, a majority of the massacres took place in the city of Latakia, predominantly inhabited by members of Bashar al-Assad's minority
Gulf countries could seek to bar entry to all homosexual tourists and expats, a senior Kuwaiti government official claimed, adding that medical tests could be introduced to detect such individuals. Speaking to an Arabic language newspaper, Al Rai, Yousuf Mindkar, the director of public health at Kuwait’s Ministry of Health, said that a central
Iran’s parliament has passed a controversial law allowing men to marry their adopted daughters at the age of just 13, the British paper The Guardian reports. Iranian law already allowed girls to marry at age 13, and boys at age 15. In addition, girls were allowed to marry at younger ages with court approval.
In a diatribe against the Russians for supporting Bashar al-Assad's regime, Saudi cleric and poet Muhammad Al-Farraj praised Adolf Hitler for “barbecuing the Russians and the Jews through and through with gasoline.” Last week on Arab satellite channel Shahada TV, al-Farraj recited a poem “about the Russians who along with the tyrant (Assad) are
Nearly 200 Muslim prisoners are suing the British government, claiming their human rights were violated after test results confirmed that halal food being served to them contained pork meat, reported The Telegraph on Monday. Islamic teachings strongly forbid any Muslim from eating pork. Test results proved that halal sausage rolls, shepherd’s pies, steak and
