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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In Spain, a ban imposed by a southeastern town on religious gatherings in public sports centers, which will mainly affect members of the local Muslim community, has sparked criticism from the left-wing government and a United Nations official, meanwhile in Australia, members of one of the country’s largest mosques say they have received death threats since plans for new loudspeakers to broadcast the Muslim call to prayer sparked public backlash, and in the United Kingdom, a 16-year-old boy inspired by Hitler planned a terror attack at a mosque, and pretended to convert to Islam to gain access. Our recommended listen of the day is an episode of UNAPOLOGETIC, a podcast by Middle East Eye, featuring Bridge Director, Dr. John L. Esposito, who unpacks 120 years of modern Islamic movements. This and more below:
International
Political Islam’s 120-year story - from anti-colonial struggle to now | Recommended Read
In this episode of UNAPOLOGETIC Professor John Esposito — one of the world’s foremost scholars on political Islam — unpacks 120 years of modern Islamic movements. From Afghani and Abdu’s 19th-century reformist vision, through Hassan al-Banna and Maududi’s activism, to Sayyid Qutb’s radical turn, we trace the intellectual and political forces that shaped the Muslim world. We explore the Iranian Revolution, the Afghan war, democratic Islamists, authoritarian crackdowns, and how the West’s perceptions of Islamism were forged. This is a masterclass in the history, ideas, and global impact of political Islam. read the complete article
Spain
Spain’s anti-Islam turn
'Spain is and will be forever the land of Christian people’. These are not, as you might think, the words of a marauding conquistador, but of a spokesperson for Spain’s right wing Vox party. They were posted on X this week, in response to a ban on Muslim religious celebrations in the southeastern town of Jumilla. It is the first prohibition of its kind in Spain. It was proposed by Jumilla’s Conservative administration and passed with Vox’s (surprising) abstention. It bans the use of municipal facilities such as sports halls for ‘religious, cultural or social activities alien to our identity unless organised by the local authority’. This senseless legislation means that the 7.5 per cent of Jumilla’s 27,000 citizens who come from Muslim countries will no longer be able to publicly celebrate Islam’s two main festivals – Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan in March, and Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, held in early June. Jumilla’s ban is a knee-jerk reaction to anti-migrant riots in Torre-Pacheco, a town 70 miles to the south, in which approximately 18 per cent of the 35,000 residents are of African origin. On 9 July, a local pensioner was allegedly beaten up by three Moroccan men, prompting two nights of violent protests. Locals armed with baseball bats reportedly took to the streets, responding to calls on social media by right wing groups to target North African migrants. A kebab shop was vandalised and 14 people were arrested. Reacting to the riots in Torre-Pacheco and Jumilla’s ban on Muslim celebrations, Mounir Benjelloun Andaloussi Azhari, president of the Spanish Federation of Islamic Organisations, said he was ‘rather surprised by what’s happening in Spain. For the first time in 30 years I feel afraid’. Azhari accused Jumilla’s government of ‘going after’ Muslims and called the ban ‘Islamophobic and discriminatory’. Instead of sending a message of solidarity to Spanish Muslims after those disturbing events, Jumilla’s administration has chosen to make them feel even more unwelcome. This would be deplorable in any democracy; but it is especially sad to see in a country whose history is defined by centuries of harmonious co-existence between Jews, Christians and Muslims. read the complete article
‘Islamophobic’: Spanish town’s ban on religious gatherings sparks criticism
A ban imposed by a southeastern Spanish town on religious gatherings in public sports centres, which will mainly affect members of the local Muslim community, has sparked criticism from the left-wing government and a United Nations official. Spain’s Migration Minister Elma Saiz said on Friday that the ban, approved by the conservative local government of Jumilla last week, was “shameful”, urging local leaders to “take a step back” and apologise to residents. The ban, approved by the mayor’s centre-right Popular Party, would be enacted in sports centres used by local Muslims in recent years to celebrate religious holidays like Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. It was originally proposed by the far-right Vox party, with amendments passed before approval. Earlier this week, Vox’s branch in the Murcia region celebrated the measure, saying on X that “Spain is and always will be a land of Christian roots!” The town’s mayor, Seve Gonzalez, told Spain’s El Pais newspaper that the measure did not single out any one group and that her government wanted to “promote cultural campaigns that defend our identity”. read the complete article
Spain ombudsman probes town's ban on Muslim celebrations
Spain's ombudsman on Friday said he is looking into the Jumilla local authority's decision to ban Muslims from using public facilities such as civic centers and gyms to celebrate religious festivals. Jumilla, a municipality in the Murcia region led by the conservative Popular Party, approved a measure banning "cultural, social or religious activities unrelated to the City Council," including Muslim celebrations like Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha, from municipal sports venues. The measure passed following a proposal from the far-right Vox party, which had called for an outright ban on Islamic events. Vox abstained, allowing Mayor Seve Gonzalez to approve the revised version. The Popular Party relies on Vox's support to govern the region. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Hitler-inspired boy planned terror attack at mosque, and pretended to convert to Islam to gain access
The leader of a mosque where a Hitler-inspired teenager was plotting a massacre has told Sky News of the moment the boy pretended to convert to Islam to gain access, weeks before a terror attack which police prevented. The boy, who was 16 years old at the time, idolised the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik and was caught by detectives as he made his way to burn down the Inverclyde Muslim Centre in Greenock in January. He was hoping the mosque, which has a capacity of 275 worshippers, would be full. It is understood the teen had boasted online about his plans to livestream the attack after becoming radicalised on social media aged 13. The youth, who was dressed in black and carrying an air rifle, had successfully hoodwinked the imam that he was serious about switching religion. The young neo-Nazi, who cannot be legally identified because of his age, was left alone to film and draw sketches of the areas where his victims, including children, would be trapped as the planned firebomb attack unfolded. read the complete article
London police arrest 466 people for backing banned Palestine Action group
Police have arrested 466 people in central London on Saturday for protesting the British government’s decision to ban the pro-Palestinian activist group Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws. “As of 9pm, 466 people had been arrested for showing support for Palestine Action,” the Metropolitan Police wrote on X on Saturday. Eight arrests were made for other offences, including five for assaults on officers, but police said none were seriously injured. Palestine Action is a UK-based group which says it aims to disrupt the operations of weapons manufacturers supplying the Israeli government. Last month, UK lawmakers voted to proscribe the group after two Palestine Action activists broke into Britain’s largest air base in central England in June, damaging two military aircraft. The group’s ban makes it illegal under UK law to be a member of – or invite support for – Palestine Action and puts them on par with terrorist organizations such as Hamas, al Qaeda and ISIS. Large crowds turned up for demonstrations organized by Defend Our Juries on Saturday afternoon at London’s Parliament Square. London’s Metropolitan Police had cautioned that it would arrest anyone showing support for the proscribed group. read the complete article
India
Richard Eaton: India’s self-destructive war on the deep roots of the Mughal Empire
“As is true of autocracies everywhere”, wrote David Remnick last April, “this Administration demands a mystical view of an imagined past.” Although Remnick was referring to Trump’s America, something of the same sort could be said of India today. Informed by Hindutva (Hindu-centric) ideals, the country’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party imagines a Hindu “golden age” abruptly cut short when Muslim outsiders invaded and occupied an imagined sacred realm, opening a long and dreary “dark age” of anti-Hindu violence and tyranny. In 2014, India’s prime minister declared that India had experienced 1,200 years of ‘slavery’ (ghulami), referring to 10 centuries of Muslim rule and two of the British Raj. But whereas the British, in this view, had the good sense to go home, Muslims never left the land they had presumably violated and plundered. To say the least, India’s history has become a political minefield. Between the early 16th and the mid-18th century, towards the end of those 12 centuries of alleged “slavery”, most of South Asia was dominated by the Mughal Empire, a dazzling polity that, governed by a dynasty of Muslims, was for a while the world’s richest and most powerful state. Although it declined precipitously during the century before its liquidation by Queen Victoria in 1858, today’s India would be unrecognisable without the imprint the Mughals had made, and continue to make, on its society and culture. It was they who, for the first time, unified most of South Asia politically. The basis of India’s currency system today, the rupee, was standardised by the Mughals. Indian dress, architecture, languages, art, and speech are all permeated by Mughal practices and sensibilities. India’s government is engaged in a determined drive to erase the Mughals from public consciousness, to the extent possible. In recent years it has severely curtailed or even abolished the teaching of Mughal history in all schools that follow the national curriculum. read the complete article
In India, Immigration Raids Detain Thousands and Create a Climate of Fear
A waste picker from a Delhi slum, who said he had been deported with his pregnant wife and son. A rice farmer in Assam, in India’s northeastern corner, who said his mother had been detained by police for weeks. A 60‑year‑old shrine attendant in the western state of Gujarat, who said he had been blindfolded, beaten by the police and then put on a boat. All have been caught up in a widening crackdown on migrants that the Indian government has justified as a national security imperative. Rights groups say the crackdown, which intensified after a terrorist attack in Kashmir in April, has become an increasingly arbitrary campaign of fear against Muslims in India, especially those whose language might mark them as outsiders. Thousands of Indian Bengali-speakers, most of them Muslims, have been rounded up, detained or expelled to Bangladesh. Many of them are from West Bengal, an eastern Indian state where Bengali is the main language; for decades, young people from the state have migrated to big Indian cities elsewhere for work. In interviews with a dozen people across four Indian states, in neighborhoods that have been raided by the police, Muslim and Hindu Bengali speakers said they had become scared of being caught in the government’s crackdown. read the complete article
Australia
Sydney mosque members receive 'death threats' in call to prayer furore
Members of one of Australia’s largest mosques say they have received death threats since plans for new loudspeakers to broadcast the Muslim call to prayer sparked public backlash over “intrusive noise” and property price concerns. Security measures have ramped up at Lakemba Mosque in Sydney’s west amid an ongoing planning row centred on a $22,000 proposal by the Lebanese Muslim Association to add four new loudspeakers to the mosque’s prominent minaret. The proposal involved using the loudspeakers to play the Adhan call to prayer once a week, on Fridays, for up to 15 minutes at a time. But the plans have hit a major hurdle: Canterbury-Bankstown Council is expected to refuse the development application (DA) at a meeting next week due to concerns over “significant noise” and “unacceptable amenity impacts” that were raised in public submissions. Lebanese Muslim Association secretary Gamel Kheir said what was intended to be a straightforward development application has turned into a planning quagmire, with the mosque receiving online abuse from those opposed to the proposal. Kheir said the abuse has included death threats, resulting in the mosque investing in new security measures, including additional CCTV cameras. “There have been objections which are, in the worst-case scenario, purely based on Islamophobia,” he said. “The paranoia has been purely based on the same old thing that we hear constantly – that Muslims are taking over the place and that somehow the call to prayer is associated with a terrorist threat.” read the complete article
United States
CAIR Connecticut calls for hate crime probe into anti-Muslim incident caught on camera
The Connecticut chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Sunday called for a hate crime investigation into anti-Muslim harassment incident that happened Saturday in Stamford. They say the incident happened outside of the Islamic Cultural Center of New York on Washington Boulevard. CAIR Connecticut posted a video on their Facebook page which they say shows a man who stopped his vehicle and shouted anti-Muslim slurs and insults at families, including children, who were leaving prayer. The organization is calling for local, state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate and increase patrols around local mosques to ensure the safety for worshipers. read the complete article
Canada
'There's space for all of us in sport': Shahad Alouch represents N.S. at Canada Games
A Nova Scotia athlete is determined to break down barriers and showcase her culture at the 2025 Canada Summer Games underway in St. John's. Shahad Alouch, a 17-year-old wrestler from Chester, N.S., will be wearing a hijab as she competes in the games, which represent the highest level of national competition for young Canadian athletes. She said wearing a hijab while wrestling is a challenge "most of the time" because few referees are familiar with how to deal with it. In one match, an opponent accidentally tugged at her hijab, leaving her shaken. "I totally forgot I had to wrestle because knowing someone is trying to take off your hijab … it's like me trying to take off her singlet," she said. With her coach's support, she now ensures referees and competitors understand the cultural and religious importance of her hijab before matches. Alouch said she is excited to be going to the Canada Games with her teammates to represent Nova Scotia and is focused on growth rather than just winning. She said her goal is to inspire others by showing that being from a different religion or culture should not deter them from participating in a sport that they love. read the complete article