Blog archive all
12th January 2015
In a video posted on Twitter yesterday, British prime minister David Cameron described the Charlie Hebdo march in Paris as inspirational and went on to talk about "tackling the poisonous ideology" behind the murders:
"We have to confront it in our own country, keeping our security strong ... but… Read more
9th January 2015
Last Wednesday, an official statement from Saudi Arabia condemned the shootings at Charlie Hebdo's office in Paris. "This cowardly terrorist attack," it said, "is incompatible with Islam".
The Saudi statement, like others from the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation… Read more
8th January 2015
"Muslims do not believe in the concept of freedom of expression," according to an article on the USA Today website.
This is the kind of sweeping generalisation that would normally give rise to complaints of Islamophobia, and countless Muslims who have been imprisoned or otherwise punished in… Read more
7th January 2015
Protecting religion from insults is a slippery slope
In the view of the European Court of Human Rights, the demands of pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness are so great – at least, in democratic societies – that freedom of expression should be protected even when it causes offence. In a… Read more
30th December 2014
The strange thing about laws against apostasy and blasphemy is that most of the people who fall foul of them are neither apostates nor intentional blasphemers. In practice these laws have very little to do with theology and are mostly used as a pretext for settling political scores or pursuing… Read more
17th December 2014
The Islamic University of Madina has established a "Certainty Centre" to counter "atheistic and non-religious tendencies" in Saudi Arabia, Elaph website reports (in Arabic).
The Certainty Centre will monitor, analyse and refute atheistic thought, according to Elaph. It will develop "a variety of… Read more
16th December 2014
The Muftah website has just published a collection of articles about LGBTQ sexualities in the Middle East. Noting that many analyses extend no further than a cursory look at the "persecution of gays" in "Muslim countries", Muftah says the aim of its collection is to broaden popular, simplistic… Read more
15th December 2014
Hot on the heels of the "gay bath-house" raid in Cairo just over a week ago, there was news yesterday that Egyptian authorities have forcibly closed an "atheist cafe".
Besides atheists who were allegedly "spreading misconceptions about heavenly religions" in the cafe, it is also said to have been a… Read more
13th December 2014
Early days of the Arab Spring: Students at an engineering institute in Tunis arrange themselves to spell out the words "Tunus hurra" (Free Tunisia), January 2011.
Two articles about current trends in the Middle East: one depressing, the other more optimistic.
Writing for Your Middle East, Rana… Read more
12th December 2014
An advisor to Egypt's Grand Mufti caused a good deal of amusement this week by announcing, apparently in all seriousness, that there are 866 atheists in Egypt (out of a population of around 90 million).
This extremely precise information is said to have come from international research by an "… Read more
ARAB ART ONLINE: Susan Hefuna: Al Sabr Gamil (Patience is Beautiful) 2007. Ink stained on wood 140 x 170 cm. More information | Click to enlarge
