Tag: Quran

Existence of Eastern Churches ‘at risk’

August 4, 2016 Global News -- No Particular Country Canada, France, Islamic extremism, Jacques Hamel, Middle East, Quran, Religious freedom

Christians are now an “endangered species” in lands where their faith was first rooted, a prominent ancient church leader warned on 3 August. “The very existence of Eastern Churches, those Churches that come from the apostles’ time, is at stake,” said Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan of the Syriac Catholic . . . Read More

Iraq’s Mosul Archbishop had to pay ‘protection money’ before his 2008 kidnap and death

July 21, 2016 Iraq Al-Qaeda, Iraq, Islamic State, Jizya, Kidnapping, Mosul, Quran, Saddam Hussein

The Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul, who was murdered by militias in 2008, paid protection money to safeguard his clergy for years before his kidnapping and death, an aide has told World Watch Monitor. Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho was abducted in February 2008 from the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, which . . . Read More

Pakistan court grants bail to chief suspect in oven killings of Christian couple

April 19, 2016 Pakistan Blasphemy, Bonded labourers, Gojra, Joseph Colony, Kasur, Pakistan, Prophet Muhammad, Quran, Shahzad Masih, Shama Bibi

A Pakistani court has granted bail to the lead suspect in the brutal 2014 killings of a young Christian couple, burned alive in a brick kiln where they worked as bonded labourers, itself illegal in Pakistan. National outrage over their deaths meant the case had moved to Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Court . . . Read More

Australian Minister ‘confused’ over Islamic dogma

January 5, 2016 Boko Haram, Chibok girls, Islamic extremism, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Quran, Saudi Arabia

A claim by Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, Australia’s Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs, that Islam has no overarching authority has been . Responding to Fierravanti-Wells’ article in ‘The Australian’, “We need mellow Muslims and moderate imams”, in which she asserts that “there is no overarching authority to establish or forbid religious practices . . . Read More

Boko Haram ‘more deadly terror group’ in 2014 than IS

November 20, 2015 Adamawa, Bauchi, Boko Haram, Cameroon, Chad, Denmark, Education, Gombe, Hamas, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Israel, Kano, Lake Chad, London, Maiduguri, Middle East, Muhammadu Buhari, Niger, Nigeria, Paris, Quran, Terrorism, UN

Boko Haram was the world’s deadliest terror group in 2014, ahead of the self-proclaimed Islamic State, according to a report released on 18 Nov. by the Institute of Economics & Peace. It was responsible for 6,664 deaths in 2014, more than any other terrorist group in the world, according to the Global . . . Read More

Boko Haram captives ‘lack skills’ to challenge orders

September 16, 2015 Nigeria Boko Haram, Education, Human rights, Islamic extremism, Kidnapping, Nigeria, Quran

A Nigerian wants to roll out counter-radicalisation initiatives to help young people, in case of kidnap, to resist the pressure to carry out orders from jihadists. In a BBC interview, Dr Fatima Akilu, head of the Nigerian government’s Countering Violent Extremism Programme, said she found the ability of former captives . . . Read More

Justice moves slowly in Pakistan

September 9, 2015 Pakistan Blasphemy, Pakistan, Punjab, Quran, Shahzad Masih, Shama Bibi

Pakistan’s Supreme Court has criticised the inaction of police in response to the November 2014 burning alive of a Christian couple, Shahzad Masih and Shama Bibi, in Punjab state. Five police officers were present Muslims descended upon the couple, who had been accused of desecrating a copy of the Quran. . . . Read More

Police rescue Pakistani Christian from ‘mob justice’ over blasphemy

July 3, 2015 Pakistan Blasphemy, Faisalabad, Farooqabad, Lahore, Quran, Seventh-day Adventists

Rukhsana and other family members were beaten and had their faces blackened by an angry mob, June 2015World Watch Monitor A Christian father of four was beaten, had his head shaved, his face blackened, and was dragged through his Pakistan village before he was rescued by police June 30. . . . Read More

Muslims must ‘face up’ to Quran’s violence

June 23, 2015 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Prophet Muhammad, Quran

Egyptian President al-Sisi’s New Year’s Day speech asking how belief in Islam could make Muslim nations “a source of anxiety, danger, killing and destruction” ought to have triggered a worldwide theological debate amongst Muslims asking where the mechanism for restraining Islamic violence lies, according to Canon Dr. Gavin Ashenden, writing . . . Read More

Second mentally ill Pakistani in 2 weeks charged with desecrating Quran

June 11, 2015 Pakistan Blasphemy, Pakistan, Prophet Muhammad, Quran, Sindh

Twenty-year-old Yaqoob Bashir Masih was accused of desecrating the Quran in Mirpur Khas in Sindh province on June 4, even though he has been treated for his mental health, according to a Catholic priest. After Bashir (a Christian, known locally as ‘Kaka’) is said to have told a crowd who threatened . . . Read More

Catching Our Eye