Marine Le Pen vows to ban ‘all religious symbols’

All religious symbols, including the Jewish skull cap, will be banned if leader of the far-right French party National Front, Marine Le Pen, is elected president next year. “It is clear that kippahs are not the issue within our country. But for the sake of equality, they should be prohibited,” said Le Pen. “If I…

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‘Burkini Ban’ trojan horse for banning the veil?

Since the mayor of Cannes banned burkinis on July 28 more than thirty towns and communes in France followed suit. In certain municipalities such as Alpes-Maritimes, Var, Haute-Corse, Bouches-du-Rhône, Pas-de-Calais, and Aude, “correct dress, respectful of morality and secularism” and of “the rules of hygiene and the safety of swimming” is now mandatory. On August…

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Amidst political controversy, German DITIB association vows greater emancipation from Turkish state

  DITIB: a pawn of the Turkish government? Recent weeks and months have witnessed growing pressure on Germany’s largest Islamic association, DITIB. As a subsidiary of the Turkish Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), DITIB has been charged with being a pawn of the Turkish government and with seeking to render German Turks loyal to President…

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French Islam: ‘imam formation must be appropriate and independent’

Following the recent attacks on French soil the rector of the mosque in Bordeaux, Tareq Oubrou, judged that the gathering of Muslims and Catholics constituted “a first in the history of Islamo-Christian relations in France. It’s thanks to the Church’s position regarding its declarations [following the attack], and thanks to the Catholic Church’s open doors in…

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A Muslim Lawyer Refuses to Choose Between a Career and a Head Scarf

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. — The apprehension usually hits the night before a job interview or a big court case, as Zahra Cheema, a young lawyer, looks at the colorful head scarves and flowing abayas in her closet and silently wonders: “Should I try to make myself look less Muslim?”  She ponders: Should she wear a…

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