The Masjid al-Salaam mosque in the town of Burnaby has recently come under the spotlight after it was discovered that Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, the man behind the Ottawa shooting, had attended the mosque. However, on Friday, the mosques fielded questions from international press members to dispel all notions that the Mosque has not condoned his actions. B.C. Muslim Association’s spokesman for …

Reyhaneh Jabbari, the Iranian woman who was hanged on Saturday for killing her alleged rapist, in her final message to her mother, said that she will get her justice in “the court of God”. The 26-year-old, who was executed despite an international campaign arguing for a seven-year prison sentence instead, left the voice message in April to her mother Shole …

A local councilor belonging to France’s far-right Front National party seemingly embarrassed his colleagues by announcing that he had converted to Islam and urging others to join him. Twenty-two-year-old Maxence Buttey councilor, in the Parisian suburb of Noisy-le-Grand, reportedly embarrassed members of his anti-immigration party by sending a video in which he praises the “visionary” virtues of the Koran and …

Israeli plans to build new settler homes in east Jerusalem is likely to escalate into needless violence, a senior Palestinian official warned on Monday. “Such unilateral acts will lead to an explosion”, Jibril Rajoub, a senior member in Fatah, said at a press conference in Ramallah. Rajoub said that such a move might further inflame tensions in the city, which …

When Islam was at its strongest, it was also at its most open-minded By Gerard Russell – Onfaith Ours is the oldest religion in the world,” said the Mandaean high priest to me in 2006, when we met during my diplomatic posting to Baghdad. He did indeed turn out to be the religious leader of an ancient people whose traditions …

By David Hearst – The Middle East Monitor Nothing illustrates the free-wheeling chaos of the Middle East better than what is going on in Yemen. A small Iranian-backed North Yemeni militia, modeled on Hezbollah and from an offshoot of Shia Islam, has walked into the capital Sanaa, taken over Hodeida, Yemen’s main port on the Red Sea, and is now …

Journalist and author Glenn Greenwald, the award winning journalist who published Edward Snowden’s US government surveillance programs, on Thursday said that Canada cannot be surprised by the recent violence in the country. “Canadians shouldn’t allow this week’s violent attacks in Ottawa and St-Jean-sur-Richelieu to scare them into giving up more freedoms and privacy to the government in the name of …

A car bomb exploded on an army checkpoint in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Friday, killing 17 and injuring 22 Egyptian soldiers. The attack took place near El-Arish, the biggest town in the Sinai province. The military sometimes operates in plain view in north Sinai, often setting up impromptu checkpoints. Extremists in Sinai have killed several soldiers and policemen since the …

The Australian government has drawn flak from various quarters over its current media campaign against undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers, seemingly sending the message that they are not welcome. The government hopes that the rhetoric will discourage immigrants from settling in the country. The latest government-approved poster in the hard hitting campaign, already printed in 17 languages, says “No way. …

by Sheema Khan  As Canada heads to war for six months or more in Iraq (and perhaps Syria), Canadian Muslims will once again feel under the microscope. As with the 1991 Persian Gulf war, and in the years after the 9/11 attacks, this community will bear the burden of suspicion, discrimination and possible recrimination. Acts of violent extremism committed overseas, …