The largest mosque in Western Europe will host politics, faith and civic leaders at a peace symposium next month. More than 800 guests are expected to descend on Morden’s Baitul Futuh Mosque for the National Peace Symposium, which aims to promote a deeper understanding of Islam. International development secretary Justine Greening and energy and climate change secretary Ed Davey are expected to be among guest speakers on the night.
Pakistan’s blasphemy law, which turns 30 this year, has become only more deadly with age. Since blasphemy was made a capital crime under the nation’s secular penal code, the effect has been to suppress moderate influences, pushing “Pakistani society further out on the slippery slope of extremism,” said Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, senior advocate at the Supreme Court of Pakistan, in Washington last week. With its large population and sensitive location, Pakistan is a place where any societal shift in the direction of …
n, On October 17, over 130 people, including dozens of professors and students, attended a special academic discussion held in Princeton about religious extremism in Pakistan. The event, moderated by Princeton Professor of Economics Dr. Atif Mian, included two distinguished panelists: Pakistani journalist and commentator Raza Rumi and Pakistani jurist and scholar Mujeeb-ur-Rahman. Rumi, who survived an assassination attempt earlier this year for his outspoken views against religious extremism, discussed the tragic plight of Pakistan’s religious minorities and the state-facilitated …
A PROMINENT Muslim cleric of Trinidad and Tobago has branded the Islamic State (ISIS), as a “terror organisation” which poses a physical threat to the survival of the human race and must be exterminated from the surface of the globe. Addressing the third day of the Jalsa Salana, organized by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community at its centre, Polo Grounds, Preysal yesterday, Maulana Ibrahim Bin Yaqub, also identified the Ebola virus as another catastrophe which is creating havoc in the world.
SASKATOON – Muslims across Canada are condemning the attacks on Parliament Hill this week, including the ones in Saskatchewan. Members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community held a solidarity rally in front of Saskatoon’s city hall to show support for the fallen soldiers and stand in solidarity with Canadians to condemn the attacks in Canada and abroad. Rally-goers held signs saying ‘love for all, hatred for none’ and ‘we support our troops’, among other messages.
TORONTO – A York University Muslim student group is launching a campaign to end misconceptions about Islam. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Students’ Association (AMSA) is hosting an event called Stop the CrISIS to educate about youth radicalization and the dangerous impacts of extremist views. “We are bringing a unique perspective to everything. Our speaker will be a Canadian Muslim convert, but condemning ISIS, not supporting them,” Jari Qudrat, president of AMSA, said Thursday. “As a student club on campus, we are …
Muslim group Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at among many which have condemned the Ottawa shootings Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Canada issued a statement saying the group “categorically and unequivocally condemns” the attacks in Ottawa and Quebec. In a statement announcing the rally, the group said the goal of the rally is to “stand shoulder to shoulder with fellow Canadians and categorically and unequivocally condemn radicalization and all acts of terror.” The rally is set for 2 to 3 p.m. CST at Saskatoon City …
Two years ago, gunmen shot dead Farooq Kahloun’s newly married son Saad Farooq, 26, in an attack that severely injured Kahloun, his younger son Ummad, and Saad’s father-in-law, Choudhry Nusrat. Saad died on the spot. In Pakistan after travelling from his home in New York for the wedding, Nusrat died in hospital later. Four bullets remain in Kahloun’s chest and arm. A bullet lodged behind the right eye of Ummad, a student in the UK, was surgically removed months later.
Ottawa was rocked by violence Wednesday after a gunman fatally shot a soldier guarding the National War Memorial. The gunman then opened fire in the Parliament building, unleashing terror in the Canadian capital before he was shot and killed by a sergeant-at-arms. The two shootings in Ottawa Wednesday left lawmakers barricaded inside offices and parts of the city on lockdown for hours as police searched for suspects. Canadian authorities identified the shooter as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, 32. Zehaf-Bibeau, a Quebec native, …
An ex-serviceman of Pakistan Air Force from the minority Ahmadiyya community has been gunned down outside his house by unidentified gunmen in Punjab province, the latest targeted attack on the minority religious group facing persecution in the country. The incident took place in Kamra, Attock district, around 64 kilometres north of the capital Islamabad on Wednesday, a spokesman for the community said. The 62-year-old ex-serviceman, Latif Aalam Butt, was returning home from his stationery store yesterday when unidentified attackers fired …
Pakistan’s cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan last night backtracked over his support for the Ahmadi economist Atif Mian after receiving serious backlash from Islamist Clerics. Since August 15th Mr Khan has been leading a sit-in demonstration against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad. On September 13th while addressing the protest he announced that after coming into power, he would never compromise on merit and have people like Professor Atif Mian as his finance minister rather than appointing a relative like Nawaz Sharif’s Samdhi (daughter’s …
Pakistan’s constitution was amended 40 years ago to declare Ahmadis to be non-Muslims. Regarded by orthodox Muslims as heretical, Ahmadis are not allowed to refer to their places of worship as mosques or to publicly quote from the Koran – acts punishable by imprisonment of up to three years. Critics of the anti-Ahmadi laws say they have encouraged violence against the community. Residents of the all-Ahmadi town of Rabwah told BBC Urdu’s Nosheen Abbas of their fears for the future. …