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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In India, UP police investigates Muslim man in first case under the state’s new anti-conversion law. The highly controversial law has been labeled as a serious attack on India’s secular democracy. In the U.S, Muslim advocacy group calls for change in Tennessee’s textbook commission after evidence emerges of potential anti-Muslim bias of members. Our recommended read today is on the UAE, and how it weaponized western fears of Islam to crush dissent. This, and more, below:
United Arab Emirates
Opinion| How the UAE weaponised western fears of Islam to crush dissent | Recommended Read
The Emirati Fatwa Council has developed into a powerful tool of state control domestically and strategic communication internationally. Led by Sufi scholar Sheikh Abdallah bin Bayyah, the Fatwa Council has become a political means for the regime in Abu Dhabi to reshape Islamic discourse based on an empty narrative of "tolerance" that only applies to those who submit to quietist political obedience to the regime. Although claiming to de-politicise religion as a means of moderation, the Emirati version of Sufism paradoxically re-politicises religion not as an instrument of the public sphere but as an instrument of state repression. read the complete article
India
Opinion | Laws Against 'Love Jihad' Are Yet Another Serious Attack on India's Once Secular Democracy
The police action was based on a complaint by a youth leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who alleged Netflix was promoting “love jihad.” This oxymoron is an old Hindu supremacist trope of a supposed international Islamist conspiracy in which Muslim men seduce unsuspecting Hindu women into marriage, convert them to Islam and use them as child-producing factories, with the end game of numerically overtaking Hindus in India and turning it into an Islamic republic. read the complete article
India police investigating Muslim man in first case under new Uttar Pradesh anti-conversion law
Uttar Pradesh police Saturday registered their first case under the Indian state’s newly promulgated anti-conversion ordinance. The case is based on a complaint by a Bareilly resident against Uvaish Ahmad, a Muslim man, who alleged that Ahmad had been stalking his daughter for more than a year, attempting to “coerce, coax, and allure” her into converting to Islam so that he could marry her. read the complete article
Austria
What is behind Austria’s plan to outlaw ‘political Islam’?
After an Islamist extremist went on a shooting rampage in Vienna last month, Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz identified what he said provided the ideological framework legitimising the attack: “political Islam”. He fell short of defining the term, however. The piece of legislation Mr Kurz’s government plans to bring to parliament this month will include a ban on membership of designated “Islamist” organisations, preventive arrests, wider-ranging authority for police to close mosques and other institutions deemed radical, and powers to strip radicalised individuals of their citizenship. read the complete article
France
France Islam: Muslims under pressure to sign French values charter
France's Muslim Council is due to meet President Emmanuel Macron this week, to confirm the text of a new "charter of Republican values" for imams in the country to sign. The Council (CFCM), which represents nine separate Muslim associations, has reportedly been asked to include in the text recognition of France's Republican values, rejection of Islam as a political movement and a ban on foreign influence. read the complete article
United States
Joe Biden Has Promised to End Trump's Muslim and African 'Travel Ban'. But Its Legacy Will Be Felt for Years
Under previous Administrations, Salem’s father would likely have been able to come to the U.S. without complications: Salem’s brother is a U.S. citizen and has filed for a visa on their father’s behalf. Trump’s travel ban—often referred to as the Muslim and African ban—changed that calculus, making it much more difficult, and often impossible, for family members from certain predominately Muslim and African countries to gain entry to the U.S. read the complete article
Muslim advocacy group calls for change in Tennessee's textbook commission
Laurie Cardoza-Moore is the founder of a group called Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, based out of Franklin. According to their online mission statement, the group advocates for a global community in support of Jews and Israel. House Speaker Cameron Sexton recently appointed Cardoza-Moore to the State's Textbook Commission, which oversees the official list of textbooks recommended for Tennessee students. read the complete article
Fox and Breitbart attack Biden communications team appointee Karine Jean-Pierre
Right-wing media are now setting out to demonize one of President-elect Joe Biden’s newly announced staff appointees, singling out the incoming principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, a former official with the progressive activist group MoveOn. read the complete article
Marvel’s first on-screen Muslim superhero — Kamala Khan, Ms. Marvel’s alter-ego — inspires big hopes
Amid the stress of a rising second wave of COVID-19, comic book fans found something to celebrate this September. Marvel Studios announced the casting of its first on-screen Muslim superhero, Kamala Khan, the alter-ego of Ms. Marvel. read the complete article