Supreme Court allows 3 Muslims put on no-fly list to seek damages against federal officials

The Supreme Court of the United Sates allowed three Muslims who had been placed on no-fly lists, to sue for financial damages against FBI officials under a federal law meant to protect religious liberty. Writing for an 8-0 court, Justice Clarence Thomas said that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, passed in 1993 to prohibit the federal…

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Court case limiting ‘lockdown’ restrictions on religious services receives feeble echo in Germany

Internationally, a case at the Federal Constitutional Court surrounding German authorities’ ability to prohibit Friday prayers in the context of the Covid-19 outbreak has caused a bit of a stir. At issue is the question as to whether public authorities have the legal right to ban Friday prayers and other religious services during the so-called…

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Responses and reflections as American Muslims are pulled into the Abortion debate

Accusations of Shariah The raging abortion debate has drawn in Muslims, in part because of the rhetoric used by those opposing the turn the country has taken in restricting abortion almost absolutely. In enacting these stringent abortion laws, many have accused right wing advocators of bringing in their own version of shariah law. The implication…

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Islamic research in Germany: A new Qur’anic commentary – and old questions of politicisation

Austrian theologian Mouhanad Khorchide, professor for Islamic religious pedagogy and director of the Centre for Islamic Theology at the University of Münster in Germany, has published the first part of a wide-ranging commentary of the Qur’an – a project that is to comprise 17 volumes upon completion. A large-scale tafsir The book – titled God’s…

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Germany mulls ‘mosque tax’ to enhance control over Islamic places of worship

German policy-makers are debating the introduction of a so-called ‘mosque tax’, to be paid by German Muslims and collected by the German state in order to fund the provision of Islamic religious services. The ostensible model for such a levy is the ‘church tax’ (Kirchensteuer) already in existence: depending on their Land of residence, members…

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