Religious Extremism

Competition Between Government and Opposition Islamist Groups Intensifies in Turkey

October 03, 2014

The Islamist Justice and Development Party governing Turkey and the country's many religious orders, including the Gulenist movement and other central Anatolian Islamist orders, are engaged in a media war of words and social constituencies about the growing influence of Saudi Wahhabi and Iranian Shiite doctrines in Turkey.
Somali Islamist Militants Punish Woman with Death by Stoning

October 01, 2014

Al-Shabaab, the militant Islamist group fighting to make Somalia a sharia state, followed a religious court's conviction of a local woman on charges of adultery by carrying out a punishment of death by public stoning.
Australian Government Urges Cooperation with Muslim Citizens Around Islamophobia and Radicalization

October 01, 2014

Police officials and Muslim leaders in Victoria, Australia, are urging cooperation between government authorities and religious organizations such as the Australian National Imams Council, in order to defuse a spate of recent Islamophobic threats and random acts of Islamic radicalism in the country.
Muslim Groups and Leaders Urge U.S. and European Officials to Refuse to Use "Islamic" to Describe ISIS and Al-Qaeda

September 24, 2014

A growing number of Islamic groups and Muslim leaders from the Middle East and European countries and the U.S. are calling for a rejection of the term "Islamic" to describe ISIS (the self-styled Islamic State of Syria and Iraq/Levant) and al-Qaeda, arguing that use of the term Islamic for jihadi-terrorist groups provokes stereotyping of Islam and all Muslims.
Liberal Muslim Scholar Targeted for Blasphemy Is Assassinated in Pakistan

September 24, 2014

One of Pakistan's most well-known Muslim intellectuals was assassinated by vigilantes in Karachi, targeted by other university professors for blasphemy (a crime punishable by death, according to sharia law) because of his liberal views about human rights and tolerance of religious diversity.
Tunisian Islamists Hire U.S. Lobby Shop to Bolster Image

September 24, 2014

In the approach to Tunisia's national elections next month, the country's Islamist party, Ennahda, has hired a U.S. lobbying powerhouse, Burson-Marsteller, to bolster the Islamists' image, so that Washington will continue its generous foreign-aid package to Tunisia in the event of Ennahda election victory.
Ugandan Government Investigates Islamic University for Extremist Ties

September 17, 2014

The Ugandan government is investigating reported Islamist extremist activities in the Islamic University in Uganda (“IUIU”), an institution to which the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (“OIC”) is preparing to disburse a multi-million-dollar development loan as part of the OIC's commitment to global Islamic universities, including those in Niger, Indonesia, Malaysia and Chicago, USA.
Muslim Brotherhood Leaders Detained in Jordan on Charges of Incitement

September 17, 2014

A senior leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, which has extensive grassroots support in the country, was detained by police on charges of incitement of against the government.
Islamic State Militants Confiscate Property of Christians, Shiites, Non-Militant Sunnis

September 17, 2014

Islamic State (“IS”) militants controlling the Iraqi city of Mosul are systematically confiscating the property of Christian and Shiite residents who fled the city and are threatening non-IS Sunni Muslims with property confiscations and apostasy condemnation if they do not join the IS.
Saudi Religious Police Apologize After Beating British Citizen at Supermarket

September 10, 2014

Saudi Arabia's Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Mutawa), charged with policing society for deviations from Wahhabi Islam, issued a rare apology to a British businessman who was beaten outside a Riyadh supermarket for violating sharia by shopping with his wife in a women-only cashier line.