Religion Dispatches
…usand deaths—but they still participate in negotiation talks in France and Qatar. 11. Boko Haram, Radical Islamists in Nigeria, Increase Attacks against Christian churches, moderate Muslim mosques, and Nigerian security institutions setting off ethnic and religious violence. 12. Sectarian Violence in Burma between Rohingya Muslim minority and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists displaced over 100,000 Muslim refugees and killed over 1,000. 13. Over 3,000 Musl…
Read More
…n Kuwait and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries—Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. In Kuwait, convicted homosexuals could face up to 10 years in prison, if the engaged parties are under the age of 21. Haiti: Senate votes to ban marriage and pro-LGBT advocacy, citing ‘deep religious beliefs’ The Senate voted to ban same-sex couples from getting married and to an “public demonstration of support” for homosexuality, affirming…
Read More
…ons in Bahrain, stalled political reforms in Morocco, the role of oil-rich Qatar in Tunisian domestic politics, and anti Muslim Brotherhood protests in Egypt. The site’s video section features a subculture of Arab activists who post YouTube videos on free speech and individual liberties in Arab countries. Recent examples included a testimony of a Moroccan atheist who exposes severe apostasy laws in Muslim countries, and an unveiled Saudi female st…
Read More…ion of Twelver Shi‘i theology. What al-Tayyib and the others—including the Qatar-based Egyptian Sunni jurist Yusuf al-Qaradawi—are really afraid of is an aggressive politicized Twelver Shi‘ism, though there are some disagreements with parts of the latter’s theology and creed. Despite the increased regional influence of Iran, and Twelver Shi‘i political parties in Iraq and Lebanon, there is little actual evidence validating the fears of al-Tayyib a…
Read More
…freedom-loving urban constituency. Throughout Afghanistan people have cell phones and access to the internet. It’ll be difficult to have the same kind of social control two decades later. Another factor is the way the Taliban came to power in recent months. In February 2020, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo represented President Donald Trump in meetings with Taliban representatives in Qatar. Trump essentially surrendered to the Taliban in excha…
Read More
…Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Yemen, and Bahrain. That’s 15 countries, including the most populous, Egypt. And while I’m not sure about The Sudan, there are of course strong restrictions around women’s dress in Saudi Arabia. That’s possibly 2 countries for the other side. (In fact, in the whole Muslim world, only two other countries legally mandate the veil…
Read More
…egion, we have wealthy monarchies, again sparsely populated, and with high numbers of foreign workers, from lower-end service and construction jobs to higher-end management and finance professionals. And then we have the region from the Sinai to Iran’s western border, including Israel and the Occupied Territories, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and possibly even largely non-Arab Turkey; this region may well be the Arab world’s Balkans, and its rece…
Read More
…counts linking to his jet, Elon peskily doxxed himself at the World Cup in Qatar. Looks like a certain pest needs a suspension! Musk broke the first seal. 2. War: Will Smith vs. Chris Rock We’ve all heard of the culture war and everyone who breathes getting “canceled by the ‘woke’ mob.” Smith vs Rock came to a head at the Oscars after years of sideswipes, “jokes,” and side-eyes. Smith decided not to turn the other cheek no mo’. When Paper and Scis…
Read More
…lands, Germany, Chile, Turkey, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Qatar, Portugal, Canada, Mexico, the Russian province of north Ossetia, Indonesia, South Africa, Morocco, Japan, Israel, Jordan, Italy, and Spain. They took us into their virtual communities, houses, and mosques, invited us to fatwas, took us on a virtual Hajj to Mecca, and discussed their perceptions of extremism, integration, creative collaboration, and cultural values. I…
Read More
…human rights framework. Trump’s victory comes as countries like Russia and Qatar have been waging a campaign to undermine the foundations of international human rights law, arguing that the framework has become a tool of wealthy, Western nations to impose “cultural imperialism” around the world. For them, the United States is the biggest offender, and its defense of LGBT people is the most potent evidence to question the legitimacy of the entire p…
Read More