Muslim-Christian-Jewish Relations

Imams to Visit Auschwitz

Posted on May 22 2013 by MEE Administrator

811414889Arab News reports that a group of Muslim scholars will visit Auschwitz soon. In light of the persistent Holocaust denial of the Iranian regime, and a common idea in the Muslim world that Palestinians are paying for the European crime of the holocaust, and the narrative of the holocaust being so important to the formation of Israel–this is a highly significant event in Muslim-Jewish relations.

A Saudi preacher is among 14 Muslim scholars from across the globe who will visit the former Nazi Auschwitz death camp in southern Poland next week as part of a Holocaust awareness and anti-genocide program, organizers said yesterday.
“This is an opportunity for imams who are influential in their communities to look at the Holocaust first hand and to go to Auschwitz, to see what that kind of hatred led to,” Poland’s Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich told AFP yesterday.

“It’s to make sure that civilization doesn’t fail again.”

Read the rest of the story here. Continue reading →

Christians Debate Amnesty for the Boko Haram in Nigeria

Posted on May 20 2013 by MEE Administrator

19_Boko_HaramChristianity Today has an excellent article on the situation of the Boko Haram attacking Christians in Nigeria.  While the government is considering amnesty as a way to neutralize the terrorist organization, many Christians are skeptical. The government has declared a state of emergency.

Boko Haram primarily operates in the Northern part of Nigeria. Nigeria is evenly divided between Muslims and Christians. Most of the Muslims are in the North and most of the Christians are in the South. Continue reading →

Muslims to Tea Party: Welcome to our World

Posted on May 16 2013 by MEE Administrator

peter kingIn the wake of the scandal of the IRS targeting Tea Party groups, Muslims are asking why it’s only a scandal when non-Muslims are targeted.

Reports that the Internal revenue Service has been targeting Tea Party-affiliated nonprofit organizations has grabbed headlines, but should come as no surprise. In part because of ten years of expanding government powers, much of it under the guise of national security, selective enforcement of the law has increasingly become a norm rather than an aberration.

But some in the Muslim community might have a question – why are conservatives so surprised (and outraged) by this news when Muslim nonprofits and their leaders have been under intense scrutiny for over a decade? And when so many Muslim groups and individuals have faced scrutiny simply for the religion they follow?

Read it at CNN. Continue reading →

Church Bombing in Tanzania

Posted on May 14 2013 by MEE Administrator

APTOPIX Tanzania BlastA reminder that Muslim-Christian tensions remain high in parts of Africa

From Reuters:

(Reuters) – Tanzania has released three Emiratis and one Saudi held in connection with the bombing of a church this month and charged a local man with murder, Tanzanian police said.

Three people were killed in the attack on the Catholic church in Arusha, north Tanzania. More than 60 were injured.

Tanzania police said in a statement on Monday that the four had been released without charge after investigations proved they were not involved in the bombing.

Arusha regional police commander Liberatus Sabas said 20-year-old Tanzanian Victor Ambros Kalist was charged on Monday with murder and attempted murder in connection with the attack.

A total of nine suspects, including the four foreigners, were initially arrested by the police following the May 5 incident.

The UAE Foreign Ministry had announced on its Twitter account that the Emiratis had been released late on Sunday.

The Saudi citizen was also released and was not charged with any offence, Saudi Arabia’s state news agency reported late on Sunday, citing the assistant minister for foreign affairs.

Sabas said Kenya and Uganda were helping with the investigation and 31 injured were still being treated in hospital.

Tanzania, a nation of about 45 million people, is roughly split evenly between Muslims and Christians. Tensions between the religious communities are on the rise.

Earlier this year, two Christian leaders were killed in Tanzania’s semi-autonomous, predominantly Muslim islands of Zanzibar and there have been attacks on Muslim leaders and mosques.

Arusha lies near the snow-capped peak of Mount Kilimanjaro in a part of Tanzania that is predominantly Christian.

(Additional reporting by Amena Bakr in Dubai; Editing by James Macharia and Alison Williams)

Continue reading →

Turkey Uncovers Alleged Plot to Kill Patriarch

Posted on May 10 2013 by MEE Administrator

patriarxis-thumb-large-thumb-large

It’s good to know that the government of Turkey is taking threats against religious minorities seriously.

(Reuters) – Turkey is investigating an alleged plot to assassinate Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, and has stepped up security around the patriarchate in Istanbul, his spokesman said on Friday.

Spokesman Dositheos Anagnostopoulos said the patriarch had not received any direct threats but had learned of the alleged plot from Turkish media, which was later confirmed to the patriarchate by Turkish police.

“Later in the day, police informed the patriarchate of a possible threat and dispatched additional police officers,” Anagnostopoulos said.

Read it at Reuters Continue reading →

Glenn Beck’s Confusing Saudi Conspiracy Theories

Posted on May 6 2013 by Aaron Taylor

Saudi-National-Ali-Al-Harbi-Glenn-BeckWhile Glenn Beck often accuses anyone that disagrees with him of being a  ”relativist” or “subjectivist”, the irony is that in Glenn Beck’s confusing world of conspiracy theories, facts don’t seem to matter.  The Boston Marathon bombers were Chechen nationals, not Saudi, but even after the identity of the bombers was discovered, that didn’t stop Glenn Beck from pinning the bombing on a Saudi national. The Saudi national, Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi, was himself a victim of the bombing, which makes the accusation even more pernicious. Glenn Beck has never apologized to Alharbi for falsely accusing him of being a terrorist, despite the debunking of his theory.

Now, in an effort to trash the Obama administration, Glenn Beck is claiming that the Saudi government tried to warn the U.S. about the Tsarnaev brothers, the actual bombers, even though his own website has reported that the Saudis have denied the claim.

First, the Saudis were behind the attacks. Now, the Saudis tried to stop it.

If that’s not “relativism” or “subjectivism”, I don’t know what is. Continue reading →

Jews Flourished Under Muslim Rule

Posted on May 1 2013 by MEE Administrator

synagogueCross-Posted from The Saudi Gazette

Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan

Rabbi Reuven Bulka, City of Ottawa’s Wayne Sprague and I were on a TV panel following the desecration of mosques in Gatineau, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Charlottetown and vandalism in Jewish synagogues and cemeteries. We agreed that Canada is a great country and that Canadians are tolerant and fair. But we also felt that there are racists and bigots in Canada – among politicians, academics, members of the media and others – who promote hatred of Jews and Muslims through anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
Many Muslim countries and Israel deserve criticism for their policies, I think. But to condemn a religious faith, distort its teachings and blame an entire community for the wrongs of a few is wrong, hateful and in some cases malicious.

The three of us agreed that hate and cruelty violate the principles of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and those of Canada too. Continue reading →