Tag: Islamic extremism

Egypt: Copts stage sit-in to protest at church closure

October 27, 2017 Egypt Churches, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Minya, Upper Egypt

Members of the Holy Virgin and Mar Girgis church staged a sit-in to protest the closure of their church in October. (Photo: Watani)

After four Coptic churches in Upper Egypt were forced to close last weekend following clashes with local Muslims, the priest at one church has staged a sit-in, but another church has agreed, under duress, to remain closed until it has obtained an official permit. Father Moussa Thabet remains in his . . . Read More

Jill Ireland back in court as Malaysia considers Christians’ right to call God ‘Allah’

October 27, 2017 Malaysia 'Allah', Borneo, Islamic extremism, Jill Ireland, Kuala Lumpur, Lawrence Andrew, Malaysia, Sabah, Sarawak, The Herald

This is a Bahasa speaking church meeting in East Malaysia where 'Allah' is used to refer to God. In 1986, the Malaysian government banned the usage of this word by Christians. The Catholic Herald fought against this ban for seven years in court but finally lost. This battle continues with the Jill Ireland case. (See article - Jill Ireland Case on 'Allah' Far from Over)

A Malaysian Christian woman’s campaign for Christians’ right to use the word “Allah” for “God” has resumed in Malaysia’s High Court. Jill Ireland has been campaigning for Christians’ right to use the word ever since immigration officials at a Kuala Lumpur airport seized eight Christian CDs from her in May . . . Read More

Sudan Church of Christ leaders charged with sound pollution for ‘noisy’ services

October 27, 2017 Sudan Churches, Islamic extremism, Kuwa Shamal, Pentecostals, Port Sudan, Sadiq al-Mahdi, Sanctions, Sudan, Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church, Sudanese Church of Christ

A 2015 church service in Sudan's Nuba Mountains (World Watch Monitor)

Five Sudanese Christians arrested, but later released, last Sunday (22 October) have now been charged with causing sound pollution through overly loud church services. The five church leaders – Ayouba Telyan, Abdelbagi Tutu, Ali El Hakim, Ambarator Hamad and Haibil Ibrahim – were summoned to court yesterday morning (26 October), but . . . Read More

‘Careful response needed’ after Mozambique’s first Islamist attack

October 26, 2017 Al-Shabaab, Cabo Delgado, Islamic extremism, Mocimboa da Praia, Mozambique, Saudi Arabia, Sufi, Sunni, Wahhabism

Mozambiques President Filipe Nyusi addresses the 71st session of the UN General Assembly in New York on 21 September 2016. (Photo: Getty Images)

Mozambique experienced its first confirmed Islamist attack earlier this month when a local group raided three police stations in the coastal town of Mocimboa da Praia. Now a “careful response” is required from the government, says African historian Eric Morier-Genoud. A group of about 30 armed men launched the attack . . . Read More

Egypt: 4 Coptic churches closed after Muslim protests

October 26, 2017 Egypt Churches, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Minya, Sohag

Four Coptic churches in Upper Egypt were closed down last weekend by local authorities seeking to ease tensions between Muslim and Christian villagers. Three of the churches were in Minya governorate, just south of Cairo, and the fourth in Sohag, further south. In the Minya village of Ezbet al-Qeshiri, the . . . Read More

Indonesia: Christians cancel event Muslims say would have been ‘arena of apostasy’

October 25, 2017 Indonesia Apostasy, Indonesia, Indonesian Ulema Council, Islamic extremism, Java, Yogyakarta

Indonesian Christians planning to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Protestant Christianity were forced to abandon a stadium event following threats from Muslim hardliners. “For the sake of interreligious harmony … and to avoid acts of intolerance, the committee decided to call off the national prayer service to mark 500 years . . . Read More

Saudi Arabia pledges to scrutinise hadiths to ‘eliminate’ extremism

October 19, 2017 Saudi Arabia Education, Islamic extremism, King Salman, Pope Francis, Prophet Muhammad, Saudi Arabia

The big mosque near Deera square in Riyadh with room for 20,000 people. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Saudi Arabia has pledged to monitor preachers and jurists’ use of Prophet Muhammad’s hadiths (sayings) “to prevent them being used to justify violence or extremism”. Saudi’s King Salman has ordered an international council of senior Islamic scholars to scrutinise the hadiths. The Saudi Culture and Information Ministry promised on Tuesday . . . Read More

Egypt: the public spectacle of a slain Coptic priest

October 13, 2017 Egypt Al-Azhar, Beni Suef, Bishop Angaelos, Cairo, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Samaan Shehata

The images were horrific. Father Samaan Shehata, a 45-year-old Coptic Orthodox priest, lay dead on the ground, stabbed and beaten by a young man wielding a meat cleaver. Blood dripped down his face into his long, black beard. Dirt discoloured his flowing black robe. His cross pendant rested peacefully on . . . Read More

Behind Nigeria persecution ‘lies prejudice, weak leadership, corruption, historic grievance’

October 13, 2017 Nigeria Boko Haram, Catholics, Islamic extremism, Nigeria, Sharia

Support for the Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram is a reaction to Western-backed corruption, colonial-era intervention and weak Nigerian leadership, a Catholic archbishop has said. Archbishop Matthew Kukah of Sokoto in north-western Nigeria told World Watch Monitor that sympathy for the extremist group in northern Nigeria’s majority-Muslim states was fuelled . . . Read More

IS recaptures ‘symbol of interfaith coexistence’ Syrian town

October 6, 2017 Syria Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Jacques Mourad, Qaryatain, Syria

Islamic State (IS) jihadists have regained control of a town believed to be home to hundreds of Christian families. The group launched a surprise attack on the town of Al-Qaryatain, which was being guarded by government forces, early on Sunday. The town, in the central province of Homs, is known . . . Read More

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