Tag: Islamic extremism

‘Middle East without Christians would not be the Middle East’ – Pope Francis

July 10, 2018 Eritrea, Ethiopia, Islamic extremism, Italy, Middle East, Pope Francis, Syria

Pope Francis lights a candle inside the cripta of the St. Nicholas Basilica in Bari, southern Italy July 7, 2018. REUTERS/Tony Gentile

Pope Francis says religious fundamentalists in the Middle East, “under the guise of religion, have profaned God’s name, which is peace, and persecuted age-old neighbours”, Reuters reports. The pope was speaking during a summit of Christian leaders in Bari, Italy, on Saturday, 7 July. He spoke of the “terrible suffering” . . . Read More

Church of Muslim converts told to close in Kyrgyzstan

July 4, 2018 Kyrgyzstan Apostasy, Converts, Islamic extremism, Kyrgyzstan

A church in Kyrgyzstan that is home to many former Muslims has been ordered to cease its Sunday worship. A local source told World Watch Monitor that services at the church, which is led by a convert from Islam, have been interrupted twice in the last few months by a . . . Read More

Indonesia appoints ‘incisive’ Muslim leader in attempt to combat extremism

July 2, 2018 Indonesia Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, JAD, Java, Nahdlatul Ulama, Surabaya

The Surabaya Pentecostal Church's front yard and remainders of the gate's canopy after the bomb attack on 13 May in which five people died. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The appointment of one of the Muslim world’s “most incisive and outspoken reformers” to Indonesia’s Presidential Advisory Council signals a shift in how Indonesia is trying to combat extremism, according to religious freedom professor Paul Marshall. In May Indonesia was rocked by a number of suicide bombings orchestrated by Jamaah . . . Read More

Pakistan’s new cardinal says government unable to stop religious extremism

June 29, 2018 Pakistan Asylum seekers, Blasphemy, Constitution, Faisalabad, Islamabad, Islamic extremism, Karachi, Minorities, Pakistan, Religious freedom

Newly-appointed Pakistani Cardinal Joseph Coutts during a courtesy visit of relatives following the ceremony for the creation of new cardinals at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on 28 June. (Photo: TIZIANA FABI/AFP/Getty Images)

Pakistan’s first cardinal in nearly a quarter of a century says his country’s government is unable to control Islamic extremism. “Our government is not strong enough to control the kind of extremism that has developed in the country,” Joseph Coutts, Archbishop of Karachi since 2012, said, adding: “It is enough to accuse . . . Read More

Nigerian Christians refute claims herdsmen killings were retaliatory, as Plateau violence reaches new peak

June 28, 2018 Nigeria APC, Berom, Christian Association of Nigeria, Church of Christ in Nigeria, ECWA, Fulani herdsmen, Islamic extremism, Jos, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Plateau

In central Nigeria, clashes between predominantly Christian farmers and mainly Muslim Fulani herdsmen reached another peak in Plateau over the weekend, as suspected herdsmen went on a killing spree in a dozen villages, leaving scores dead. Early reports suggested that 86 people were killed, but local sources contacted by World . . . Read More

39 killed, 1,000 displaced by new Islamist group terrorising Mozambique

June 22, 2018 Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jamâ, Al-Shabaab, Cabo Delgado, Islamic extremism, Maputo, Mocimboa da Praia, Mozambique

In Mozambique, details have emerged of the recent attacks carried out by a new Islamist militant group, Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jamâ, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado. Until recently, little was known about the group known locally as ‘Al-Shabaab’, though there is no evidence to establish connections with the Somali . . . Read More

Egypt to pay for Coptic bomb attack victim’s surgery in Germany

June 21, 2018 Egypt Cairo, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Pope Tawadros II, Women

It’s been 18 months since Coptic Christian Samiha Tawfiq was badly injured in the bomb attack on Cairo’s St. Peter and Paul church, which claimed 27 lives and injured 49. It also took away one side of Samiha’s face. Samiha and her husband Koleny were sitting in the respective women’s . . . Read More

Tajikistan: Christian convert’s burial delayed as relatives call for husband to return to Islam

June 20, 2018 Tajikistan Apostasy, Burial, Central Asia, Converts, Islamic extremism, Minorities, Tajikistan

When an elderly Christian woman from a Muslim background died last week in a Tajikistan hospital, her husband Mihrab* and children – all of them Christians – organised a funeral ceremony and invited people from their church. But Mihrab’s Muslim relatives also invited local Muslims, including a cleric, who demanded . . . Read More

New cardinal warns of rise of ‘extremist Islam’ in Madagascar

June 19, 2018 Africa, Antananarivo, Catholics, Comoros, Islamic extremism, Madagascar, Mahajanga, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia

Mosque in Diego Suarez, in the far north of Madagascar. (Photo: Leonora Ellie Enking, via Flickr)

One of Pope Francis’s new cardinals has warned of the rise of “extremist Islam” in the southern African island nation of Madagascar. “The fundamentalists are beginning to establish themselves and, little by little, as their numbers grow, we start to wonder when they will really show who they are, and . . . Read More

Tunisians protest against closure of cafes and restaurants during Ramadan

June 15, 2018 Tunisia Ahmed Shaheed, Converts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Ramadan, Religious freedom, Tunisia

People walking in Medina in Sfax, a city on Tunisia's east coast. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Non-Muslims in Tunisia have taken to the streets during this year’s Ramadan to protest the closure of many cafés and restaurants, saying they can’t be forced to fast, reports the New York Times (NYT). Around 100 protestors began Ramadan this year by drinking water and eating sandwiches in central Tunis in . . . Read More

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