Qur’an Burning in Sweden and The Netherlands: Freedom of Speech or Islamophobia?

Rasmus Paludan, a lawyer,  founder of the Danish far-right party Stram Kurs (Hard Line) established in 2017.Much of the party’s agenda focuses on building an anti-Islam narrative and engaging in  provocative acts t towards Islam and Muslims. The party uses social media platforms and public gatherings to further their agenda. The Stram Kurs also seeks…

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First Hijab-wearing criminal barrister is appointed to the Queen’s Counsel

Sultana Tafadar, of No5 Barrister’ Chambers in London, has become the first criminal barrister who wears a hijab to be appointed to the Queen’s Counsel, which is one of the highest honours a solicitor can attain1. The award is grated to lawyers who have demonstrated exceptional ability in advocacy cases of substance, complexity, or significant…

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Germany grapples with return of pro-Kurdish fighters from Syria

Much public concern and political squabbling in Europe has focused on returnees from the battlefields of Syria and Iraq. Above all, anxieties have been centred on the potential security risks posed by former fighters and supporters of the so-called Islamic State. Over 1,000 German citizens and residents had joined the self-declared caliphate in the Levant;…

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New initiatives challenge anti-Muslim biases in German media landscape

Biased representations of Islam and Muslims abound across Europe, in journalism as well as in research. The situation is no different in Germany, as a recent book edited by Berlin-based academic Schirin-Amir Moazami shows: contributors to the volume Der Inspizierte Muslim (German for The Inspected Muslim) analyse the myriad ways in which research and public debates about Muslims –…

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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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