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SHAFAQNA – A Paris-based illustrator and filmmaker who goes by the handle Maeril on Tumblr has posted a short and helpful illustrated how-to guide for bystanders who want to step in and help someone experiencing Islamophobic harassment in a public place. She also made a version with a French translation as well, since she specifically hopes that her guide will help bystanders combatting the growing problem of Islamophobia in France. In her post about the guide, Maeril elaborated on that: “Some could say: ‘yes but you can use that technique for instances of harassment other than Islamophobic attacks!’, and my reply is: Sure! Please do so, it also works for other ‘types’ of harassment of a lone person in a public space!! However I’m focusing on protecting Muslims here, as they have been very specific targets lately, and as a French Middle Easte woman, I wanted to try and do something to raise awareness on how to help when such things happen before our eyes–that way one, ...ادامه مطلب

SHAFAQNA IN COLLABORATION WITH FORT RUSS – The most important information event of Friday was Vladimir Putin’s interview with Bloomberg, in which the Russian president touched on key issues on the global information agenda. I am sure that dozens of publications are going over this interview and discussing every question and answer in it, but I want to propose to you, dear friends, to look at this from a different angle. The point is that John Micklethwait, the editor-in-chief of Bloomberg who interviewed the Russian president, is not merely a joualist, but one of many joualists who has participated for many years in meetings of the Bilderberg Club as a full member of this shadow interest group whose opinions determine the policies of Weste countries. I think that this explains the unusual format of the interview and the fact that Vladimir Putin called Micklethwait a “specialist” and debated with him more like a politician than a joualist… If we look at the intervi,putin against bilderberg ...ادامه مطلب

SHAFAQNA – Recently, newspapers across the world — including in the United States, Britain and Israel — have reported on the challenges that Muslims, and people perceived to be Muslim, have faced at airports and on planes. Just last week, three siblings were removed from a plane in London and questioned by police for an hour after passengers incorrectly claimed that one of them had made references to Allah on her phone and was, therefore, a member of the Islamic State. This suspicion toward all things Islamic or seemingly Islamic has given rise to the expression “flying while Muslim.” The challenge for Weste countries where Muslim immigrants have settled is that “flying while Muslim” threatens to undermine the successes that some countries have had in actually integrating Muslims into society. We can lea a lot about this subject from the experience of Scotland. Relative to other European nations, Scotland has actually accommodated Muslim diversity quite well. Moreove,discrimination against muslims ...ادامه مطلب

SHAFAQNA – If the world has become desensitise to human suffering, there are still crimes so tragic and unnecessary, so violent in nature and abominable in the tragedy they carry, that we cannot help but pause. Should you have missed it somehow War has held Yemen hostage since March 25th, 2015, a day which saw Saudi Arabia unilaterally move against its impoverished neighbour in the name of “democracy building.” Yemen’s war you were told then, was a necessary evil, a democratic mean to end a popular movement Riyadh cared little for, since it spoke in negation of its religious extremism – Wahhabism. As Riyadh weaved its narrative the world sat back, gleefully deaf to the cries Yemen let out in its agony. 26 million souls stand today under a humanitarian blockade which has defied humanitarian law … never mind natural law. I realise that Yemen has become somewhat of a complicated affair as contradicting agendas and narratives have played you against each other, echoing I beli,a father's cry,a father's burden far cry 3,dream of a father crying,poems to make a father cry ...ادامه مطلب

SHAFAQNA – In an interview conducted in the sidelines of Yemen conference this August 20-21, 2016 Andrew Smith slammed  the UK govement for providing the Saudi regime with military equipment, training, and intelligence against Yemen. “The UK has been absolutely central to bombing of Yemen. It has provided training, weaponry and uncritical political support to Saudi regime. It supported this war on Yemen in every possible way – it has even stood by as Saudi Arabia organized a humanitarian blockade. That humanitarian catastrophe has been supported and fuelled with British weapons and political support. Since the bombing began the UK has sold £3.3 billion worth of weapons to the kingdom. This includes £2 billion worth of fighter jets which are being flown over Yemen right now.  About a billion pounds worth of Paveway IV bombs which are made in the UK and have been linked to destruction of civilian targets, specifically two factories, is going to be a good evident. We have n,head of media,head of media job description,head of media salary,head of media jobs,head of media and communications,head of media relations salary,head of media macmillan,head of media relations fa,head of media and public affairs ngv,head of media asthma uk ...ادامه مطلب

SHAFAQNA – Religions and Sects solidarity conference against the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) and terrorism was held with presence of Ahlul Bayt World Assembly’s member in Bangladesh. Ahlul Bayt Bangladesh religions and sects solidarity conference against ISIS and terrorism emphasized on Islamic unity and uprooting of extremism and terrorism. This conference was held with the presence of Sheikh Ibrahim Khali Razavi -chief of Bangladesh Ahlul Bayt Foundation- and a group of religious leaders and deputies along with Bangladesh interior minister and police chief in Rangpur city in Bangladesh.Chief of Bangladesh Ahlul Bayt Foundation along with nearly 100 thousand participants  said: “Unfortunately foolishness and extremism in today’s world has distorted the real Islam’s Image.”Sheikh Ibrahim Khali Razavi emphasizing on Islamic unity noted that silence over oppression is co, ...ادامه مطلب

SHAFAQNA – People whose only knowledge of Muslims comes from the media are very likely to have negative emotions and stereotypical beliefs about them, new research shows. In the Joual of Communication, Srividya Ramasubramanian, associate dean of liberal arts and professor of communication at Texas A&M University, used multiple studies, surveying non-Muslims on how much they relied on direct contact with Muslims versus media-based contact. “We observed that almost on a daily basis, media depictions of Muslims are extremely negative.” Then they measured participants’ negative emotions toward Muslims, perceptions o,how to offset subtitles media player classic ...ادامه مطلب

SHAFAQNA – France has done it again. The arrogant Weste power has once again spoken against Muslim women while alleging to speak for their freedom, and civil liberties – this liberation entails of course the removal of the hijab! What is it with France and the hijab? My question is not a rhetorical one … Why does the French Republic find the hijab so offensive, and more importantly why does it feel entitled to assume that women are being forced into it. Is that difficult to fathom that women could actually choose modesty for themselves? Are French women so weak-minded that French society would automatically assume that any female entire must have been chosen for them? This fixation on the hijab has gone on for far too long for us not to wonder what demons in fact lurk under this feminist façade. Are French women solely defined by what they wear? In which case does THAT no make French women fashionable commodities, and NOT as they love to clamour free democratic being? Why do you feel the need to dictate fashion? Are we expected to bow to France’s fashion diktat? Are we to take our queue from France when it comes to our wardrobe? Will the state now legislate clothes, as to ensure that women have just the right amount of fabric on their back? Has society completely lost the plot? Excuse my French they say …. Well in this case I’m sorry NO you are not excused. “Women athletes wearing hijabs are disadvantages, and the IOC should sanction countries which force competitors to wear them,” Veronique Lebar told Sputnik France. Excuse me … what?! How so Ms Lebar? Please do educate me and tell me how exactly a hijab does pose a disadvantage? Are you seriously implying that Muslim women need freeing against their own will? What arrogance! How many times do you need to be told that the hijab represents not a tool of oppression but a covenant with God? Women are not obliged to wear the veil, they choose to! “In religion there could be not compulsion”, reads the Quran. Did Muslim, ...ادامه مطلب

Nazia (right) and Faisal Ali were kicked off a Delta Air Lines flight from Paris to Cincinnati on July 26.(Photo: Liz Dufour) Nazia Ali had removed her sneakers, finished sending a text message to her parents and was putting on headphones and settling into her seat for the nine-hour flight from Paris to Cincinnati when a Delta Air Lines crew member approached she and her husband, Faisal. They were excited to come home July 26 to West Chester Township to see their three young sons following a 10th-anniversary trip to London and Paris, “the city of romance and love,” he said. What happened next would overshadow the good times they’d enjoyed: A flight crew member had complained to the pilot that she was uncomfortable with the Muslim couple in the second row of economy class. The woman was wearing a head scarf and using a phone, and the man was sweating, she allegedly told the pilot. The pilot contacted the ground crew. He would not take off until couple was removed. “We had been in our seats for 45 minutes,” Nazia Ali, 34, said Thursday from the Cincinnati area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in suburban Blue Ash. “The ground agent said, `Can you step out with me? We’d like to ask you a few questions.’ So I said, `Do you want us to get our things?’ And he said, `Yes, please grab all of your personal belongings. You’re not going to be on this flight.’ “ In the wake of the couple’s removal from the flight, the Muslim advocacy group announced Thursday it was filing a religious profiling complaint against Delta Air Lines to the U.S. Department of Transportation. The Alis (left) took part in a press conference Thursday at CAIR in Blue Ash to talk about their experience. Sana Hassan is the staff attoey for CAIR. On the far right is Karen Dabdoub, executive director and litigation assistant at CAIR. (Photo: Liz Dufour) In a letter to be submitted to the department’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAI, ...ادامه مطلب

In this photo taken Nov. 21, 2014, Sheik Isa Qassim, Bahrain's top Shiite Muslim cleric, speaks during midday prayers Friday, in the village of Diraz, Bahrain. Bahrain’s leading Shiite opposition group says security forces have raided the home of the country’s most prominent Shiite cleric. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali) Shafaqna – UK Sunni and Shia leaders issued a joint statement on targeting of Ayatullah Shaykh Isa al-Qasim and denounced the revocation of the citizenship of opponents and curtailing of religious freedoms as repressive and authoritarian, which will exacerbate sectarian tensions. According to Shafaqna the statement reads: starting today, the high criminal court in the Kingdom of Bahrain will hold its first session over charges brought against Shaykh Isa al-Qasim. The Bahraini Public Prosecution alleges that Shaykh al-Qasim conducted illegal religious rituals, collected funds without seeking the required authorisation and of supporting terrorism Many in and outside Bahrain know Shaykh al-Qasim as a senior religious figure who goes to great lengths to challenge sectarianism, promote social cohesion and representative democracy, and to bring closer civil society movements and the religious clergy. The case of Shaykh al-Qasim is far from being an isolated incident. In the past religious opponents of the Bahraini regime have been targeted systematically, some losing their citizenship The revocation of the citizenship of opponents and curtailing of religious freedoms is repressive and authoritarian, and will exacerbate sectarian tensions. It is precisely at times like this that we, representatives of the Sunni and Shi’a religious communities in the UK, call on the Bahraini govement to foster trust and tolerance among its citizens, and to permit religious and political groups the right of legitimate dissent, rather than engage in exclusivist, sectarian, and divisive actions We pray for the national unity of Bahrain and call upon all Muslims and other faith leaders, ...ادامه مطلب

SHAFAQNA – The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group has threatened more attacks against the Hazara minority days after the terror group claimed responsibility behind a deadly attack in Kabul city. A commander of the group has said the attacks would be carried out to retaliate against support by some in the mainly Shi’ite group for the Assad regime in Syria. The commander of the group, Abu Omar Khosrasani, has told Reuters that the attack on a peaceful demonstration in Deh Mazang was in retaliation to the deployment of the community fighters to Syria. “Unless they stop going to Syria and stop being slaves of Iran, we will definitely continue such attacks,” the militant commander told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location. Khosrasani further added “We can and we will strike them again.” At least 80 people were killed and over 200 others sustained injuries in attack in Deh Mazang area of the city onSaturday afteoon. The incident took place as hundreds of thousands of people had gathered in the area to set up camps and protest against the govement for changing the route of a major power project from Bamyan to Salang. According to reports, between 10,000 to 12,000 Afghans have been recruited to fight the Syrian rebels and majority of the Afghan fighters are illegal immigrants. A video emerged in mid-May this year online which shows the Iranian Supreme Leader meeting with the families of the Afghan fighters killed in Syria. Let's block ads! بخوانید, ...ادامه مطلب

SHAFAQNA – Outraged by the recent wave of Terror Prince Ali Seraj of Afghanistan took to social media to offer his condolences to the victims of terror, and speak words of truth in the face of monstrosity. “I extend my deepest condolences to our Christian brothers and sisters for the gruesome murder of the Priest in France. I know that the gruesome act was committed by ISIS killers. These are the same type of people who murdered over 80 young Afghans, three days ago and have murdered more Muslims while they were praying in a mosque. These godless creatures, before detonating their suicide vests, yell Allah Akbar, meaning that Allah is great. In so doing, they are making Allah All Mighty as their partner in murdering innocent human beings. This is not Islamic. It is work of the Devil. They are devil worshippers, supported by the Wahabi religion. We, as Muslims, feel your pain and pray for the soul of the Priest all others who have died at the hands of these animals.” SHARE Facebook Twitter Previous articleNew act of Terror in France – the Shafaqna Institute speaks to RT Next articleKevork Almassian speaks on Terror, Syria, misconception and radicalism Let's block ads! بخوانید, ...ادامه مطلب

SHAFAQNA – Muslim leaders urge members of their community to use their vote to challenge rising Islamophobia and to ‘defeat hate’. On the sidelines of the US Democratic National Convention, where delegates will formally nominate Hillary Clinton as the party’s presidential candidate, Muslim leaders gathered to push the community to vote, calling the ballot a powerful means to challenge the growing problem of Islamophobia. “You don’t have to go to Canada, just register and vote,” Nihad Awad, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), told members of the Muslim community who had come to Philadelphia for the four-day event. “We can defeat hate,” he added. “Islamophobia is not a Muslim issue, it’s an American issue. Hate crimes are on the rise. The biggest victim of Islamophobia is America and its future prospect.” Awad and other Muslim leaders are encouraging members of the community to get involved in politics, a field in which they believe they are under-represented. Believing that Islamophobia, along with xenophobia and misogyny, are flourishing within the Republican party, they said the stakes now were higher than ever. “This is not like prior elections where we are debating the role of govement, whether taxes should be higher or lower and the like,” said Congressman Keith Ellison of Minnesota. “We never had a leader of a major party openly calling for religious hate against a particular community.” Republican nominee Donald Trump has called for Muslims to be banned from entering the US, and made it a centrepiece of his candidacy. Last week, in an interview with 60 Minutes, Trump called for “vetting” people hailing from countries with a history of “terror”. Other American politicians have followed suit: a few days ago, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said in an interview that people from a Muslim background should be tested to see if they believe in Sharia law, and be deported if they do. His comments, which came shortly after a, ...ادامه مطلب

SHAFAQNA – Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog waed of what he called “growing hatred and racism” in Israel encouraged by right-wing politicians, adding that it could pave the way for further deadly violence. “We are on the verge of an uprising of hatred, racism, darkness and upcoming killings and assassination based on the overwhelming inteal hatred here,” NRG quoted Herzog as saying during a speech at a Zionist Camp parliamentary bloc session on Monday. “We hear hatred at every tu, whether it is directed towards women by military rabbis, by Ashkenazi Jews against Sephardi Jews and Mizrahi Jews against Ashkenazis, from military school rabbis towards homosexuals, or between Arabs and Jews,” the Labor Party leader added, notably in reference to the recent appointment of Eyal Karim, who has implicitly justified the rape of women in times of war, as the new chief rabbi of the Israeli army. Herzog went on to blame the current Israeli govement, which he said has encouraged the growing right-wing discourse in Israeli society. “This way the seeds of the uprising of hatred are planted, which will lead to a civil war. This hatred is being carried out by the full support and cover of those in the govement,” Herzog said. “(Likud MK) Miri Regev will shed tears, (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu will write a post on Facebook, and (Minister of Education) Naftali Bennett will call for self-assessment, but they will be the ones indicted this time,” Herzog added. “Whoever heads this govement remains silent about the uprising of hatred, without working against it, ending it, taking steps against its leaders, or preventing those behind it from receiving funding.” “They have forgotten that protecting the weak is a major condition of being Jewish, in addition to tolerance and protecting democracy, values and morals. It seems that Netanyahu has forgotten the meaning of being Jewish,” Herzog said. Earlier this month, Herzog denounced the passage of legislation requiring that Israeli, ...ادامه مطلب

SHAFAQNA – Sheikh Hussein al-Deihi, deputy secretary general of Bahrain’s main opposition movement, al Wefaq, has issued a statement following the dissolution of the movement criticizing the tyrannical rule over Bahrain and insufficiency of the govement which has led to chaos and dictatorship over the country. He said that the recent dissolution of Al Wefaq movement was the revenge by Al Kalifa since it was aware that the Shia movement represented the majority who had achieved 64 per cent of the votes in 2006 and 2010 proving the popularity of Al Wefaq. Al Wefaq deputy referred to a conflict between tyrannical system in Bahrain and the popular movement which demands democracy, justice and law pushing the system towards violence under different pretexts including prevalence of security and law. Bahraini cleric said,” We are facing a genocide project in Bahrain and dissolution of Al Wefaq besides invading religious beliefs and religious elites is part of this project.” He stressed the sentence issued by Bahrain court has reaffirmed the view of inteational law organizations calling Bahraini court as a dependent chart with an imbalanced scale whose sentences are subjective and quite influenced by rulers. It is in fact a plaything of the system. Al Deihi noted that the issue of Al Wefaq and all the other political issues in the court are not covered in a just and balanced court and now that formation of political congregations is banned our constitution is faded away. Sheikh Hassan al Deihi stressed,” National pro-democracy tendencies are still alive among the people and in spite of jails being filled with thousands of revolutionary figures, closure of the greatest political society and all the other crimes committed by the ruling system, the people are still resisting for their demands; hence, all these events do not have any influence on determination of the Bahraini nation rather it has boosted their intention to achieve their rightful demands. Let's block ads! بخوان, ...ادامه مطلب