News and Analysis on Islam in Europe and North America
By TOBY STERLING AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — The Dutch immigration minister who set off a political firestorm by threatening to revoke the citizenship of a Somali-born lawmaker lost a party leadership contest Wednesday seen as a referendum on the country’s tough immigration policies. The hardline minister Rita Verdonk caused the political downfall of lawmaker Ayaan Hirsi
While there is no great threat of Islamic terrorism in Switzerland, its likelihood rose over the last year, according to a recent report by the Swiss federal police. The decentralisation of Islamic terrorism and Europe’s transformation from recruiting and propaganda ground to combat area are two major reasons for this. No act or preparation for
The Dutch immigration minister said Monday that Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born woman who became one of the most prominent members of Dutch parliament, was improperly granted citizenship in 1997 and it may be revoked. Hirsi Ali, an opponent of fundamentalist Islam and an advocate for immigrant women’s rights, returned abruptly from a book tour
The American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections has expressed its anger at the closure of the Muslim charity KindHearts by US authorities in February this year. KindHearts, the Ohio-based group was a $5 million-a-year charity with branches in Lebanon, Pakistan, and the Gaza Strip. It provided funds for water treatment plants and orphanages,
Xavier Ternisien explores the reasons for the crises at the Muslim Council of France. He claims that it has made no progress on any of the important issues facing Muslims in France (chaplaincies, construction of mosques, halal meat, foundation for Islam works, organizing the annual pilgrimage) and had no effect on the major issues such