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Showing posts from May 24, 2015

Social media tributes pour in for Saudi hero who thwarted ISIS attack

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Social media users in Saudi Arabia and across the Arab world are flooding timelines with tributes for a heroic Saudi man who stopped an ISIS bomber from entering a mosque in a suicide attack on Friday. Abdul-Jalil al-Arbash died on Friday, when the suicide bomber blew himself up after being denied entrance into the Imam Hussein mosque in Dammam by Abdul-Jalil and his friend Mohammad Hassan Ali bin Isa. Abdul-Jalil (R) and his friend Mohammad Hassan Ali bin Isa were both killed in the attack. (Twitter) Social media users posted pictures of the two friends, calling them heroes and “martyrs,” while video was also published on YouTube showing the fathers of both men expressing gratitude for their son’s heroism. Hussain Al-Zain   @iHAlzain WSU Student Killed in Terrorist Attack # الشهيد_عبدالجليل_الاربش # تفجر_العنود # تفجير_مسجد_حي_العنود_بالدمام http:// youtu.be/UNbucU6xadA   7:23 AM - 30 May 2015   YouTube   @YouTube       Retweets     favori

The Salafi war on Sufism

A new civil war in Islam is raging between the unarmed Sufis and the Salafis. Many would read the global war on terror as a Samuel Huntingtonian self-fulfilling prophecy; witnesses would most likely identify it as a tragically wrong hypothesis. There are clearly many fault lines within Islam, some of which are deepening dramatically. One, there are attacks on Muslim intellectuals, attempts to suppress dissent. Two, there is polarisation between the Shias and Sunnis, primarily due to the Sunnification of Islam that has been continuing since the early 20th century. The emerging civil war , however, is between Sufis and Salafis. This began in the 19th century when Wahhabis attacked tombs in Arabia (the Wahhabis distinguish themselves from the Salafis). It has intensified in the last two decades with the multiplication of groups that claim to be Salafi or “early Muslims”. These groups profess an Islamic creed that is pure and uncontaminated by accretions. Sufis under siege In the

Orthodox Jewish sect's female driver ban condemned by Nicky Morgan

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The education secretary has condemned an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect’s  decision to ban women from driving, saying the edict was “completely unacceptable in modern Britain”. Nicky Morgan, who is also the minister for women and equalities, spoke as the Department for Education launched an investigation into the  order issued by the Belz sect , which runs two schools in Stamford Hill, north London. A letter to parents said that, from later this year, children driven to school by women would be turned away. Parents in the area defended the ban on Friday, saying it was part of the choice they made when they agreed to live within the Belz community. Women rejected the characterisation that they were oppressed, and the schools wrote to Morgan, saying the notice had been misrepresented. The group runs Talmud Torah Machzikei Hadass, a boys’ primary school, and Beis Malka, a primary school for girls. Both have been rated good by Ofsted. The schools had said that, from August, any child

Is Khaled Sharrouf’s family still entitled to Australian citizenship? Foreign Minister wants a national debate

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The image that shocked the world: A boy holds the decapitated head of a soldier in the Syrian city of Raqqa. Source: Supplied   Source:  Twitter A SEVEN-year-old Australian boy who horrified the world when he was photographed holding the severed head of a Syrian soldier by the hair has created a quandary for the Federal Government, which wants to make scores of Australian fighters in the Middle East someone else’s problem by revoking their citizenship. News that the boy’s mother has had enough of the horrors of Syria and wants to bring her five children back home to Sydney prompted questions about how governments should protect their own citizens and where to draw the line between terrorists and their victims. Sydney-born convicted terrorist Khaled Sharrouf posted a photo on his Twitter account from Syria of his youngest son with his extended arms straining under the weight of the gruesome trophy. But dual nationals fighting with groups such as Islamic State would be taken back by Aust

Sri Lanka accused of waging 'silent war' as Tamil land is appropriated by army

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 Sri Lankan ethnic Tamil women hold portraits of missing relatives during a protest in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Photograph: Eranga Jayawardena/AP US thinktank claims post-conflict harmony undermined by military occupation in north and east, combined with land grabs that have marginalised Tamil people Six years after the end of  Sri Lanka ’s long and bloody civil war, a “silent” conflict is being waged across the island, with tens of thousands of government troops continuing to occupy the north and east and the army expanding its property developments on land belonging to displaced Tamils, a new report claims. Although the  26-year-long conflict  between the majority Sinhalese government and Tamil separatists finally ended in 2009 with the defeat of the  Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) , the study by the US-based thinktank the  Oakland Institute  finds little meaningful evidence of reconciliation. It says hopes of peaceful coexistence are being thwarted by the enduring displ