JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia – Millions of pilgrims dressed in the special ihram attire arrived at the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Makkah on Sunday. They completed the first Tawaf, or circumambulation of the Kaaba, to begin the six-day rituals of Hajj, according to Saudi official news agency. After the Tawaf, the pilgrims made […]
WASHINGTON – Thousands of elderly Uyghurs have been detained in China’s Xinjiang region since 2016, according to Uyghur activists. They say that many of those detained have died in custody, often without their families being notified. Those who survived were subjected to forced labor, political indoctrination, and cultural oppress...
WASHINGTON (AA) – US Senator Chris Van Hollen on Wednesday criticized an Israeli bill that would allow Israelis back into four West Bank settlements evacuated in 2005. The senator said the action, which rolled back an agreement reached more than 20 years ago to evacuate the settlements, was inconsistent with the obligations Israel had taken [&...
LONDON (AA) – A London mosque has raised £60,000 ($72,000) to support earthquake victims in Türkiye and Syria. The East London Mosque, one of the largest in the UK, said, in partnership with Islamic Relief, Diyanet UK and other UK charity partners, it has been working to extend a helping hand to those who were […]
JERUSALEM (AA) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel on Monday from Egypt on the second leg of his Middle East tour. Blinken was welcomed by Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen upon his arrival at the Ben Gurion International Airport. The top US diplomat kicked off his visit by calling on Israel […]
JERUSALEM (AA) – CIA chief William Burns has begun an unannounced visit to the Palestinian territories and Tel Aviv, coinciding with the escalation of tensions between the two sides. The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said on Friday that Burns arrived in Tel Aviv on Thursday and met with senior Israeli officials, including the head of ...
ISTANBUL (AA) – Arab countries have condemned the desecration of the Quran in The Hague, Netherlands, saying it was a deliberate offense to one of the world’s great faiths. A video on social media on Monday showed Edwin Wagensveld, a far-right Dutch politician and leader of the Islamophobic group Pegida, carrying out the desecration of [&helli...
NICE, France (AA) – Academics and activists have said that the incidents of Quran desecration remind them of Europe’s dark past of religious persecution. Rasmus Paludan, an extremist Islamophobic Swedish-Danish politician, staged an incident desecrating a copy of the Muslim holy book on Saturday outside the Turkish Embassy in Stock...
ISTANBUL (AA) – The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is holding an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday to discuss Israeli violations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem. In a statement, the Jeddah-based organization said the meeting comes “after the continuous Israeli escalation in the occupied city of Al-Quds ...
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – A high-profile delegation from the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States (PUIC) visited Rohingya camps in the southeastern coastal district of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh on Tuesday to learn more about the situation of the Muslim minority that was forced to flee their native Myanmar due to military persecuti...