Religious Extremism

Sharia in Mauritania Used to Prosecute for Free Speech and Anti-Slavery

December 31, 2014

The influence of Sharia law in Mauritania's judicial system is driving proceedings against an author accused of blasphemy for criticizing the country's class structure and a civic organization accused of incitement for campaigning against slavery in Mauritania.
Europe's Mosques Emerging as Key in Hearts-and-Minds Battle Against Violent Islamism

December 24, 2014

Emblematic of a broader trend in European countries, Germany's mosques are emerging as key spaces in which radical Islamists of The Islamic State (“IS”) type compete with liberal imams in a hearts-and-minds struggle for cradle and convert Muslim youth.
Egypt's Muslim Sisters Are Taking the Lead for Muslim Brotherhood

December 24, 2014

As the male leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood (“MB”) has been subjected to detentions and trials in the Egyptian government's hard crackdown on the country's Islamist groups, the Muslim Sisters are taking the lead in grassroots activism and public protests aimed at both sustaining the MB and moving women into formal decisionmaking positions in Egypt's Islamist organizations.
Press Freedom the Casualty of Growing Islamist Battle in Turkey

December 24, 2014

The AKP Islamist Government in Turkey has initiated a dragnet of journalist arrests and media closures for outlets in Turkey that are connected to global Islamist leader Fetullah Gulen (who resides in the United States), as press freedom continues to be hostage to the intensifying Islamist strife in a country that is a candidate for membership in the European Union.
Salafists Use Apostasy to Push for Silencing Speech Freedoms in Algeria

December 24, 2014

One of Algeria's most internationally renowned novelists has been branded an apostate by an Algerian Salafist Imam, who has called for the author's death on account of his recent novel and public commentaries regarding Islam.
Saudi Monarchy Beginning to Treat Wahhabi Fundamentalism as Threat to State and Society

December 19, 2014

The centuries-old alliance between the Saudi royal family and the Wahhabi religious establishment is showing signs of strain, mainly because King Abdullah and other members of the monarchical government are beginning to treat the Sunni fundamenalist Islamism of the Wahhabi clerical class as an impediment to the country's economic modernization (women are second-class subjects) and social cohesion (Shiites are treated as heretics), as well as a security threat to the regime.
Mideast Dictators Exploit Islamic Sectarianism to Hold Power

December 17, 2014

Critics of the current sectarian-communal model for analyzing violence in Mideast argue that one of the most pernicious factors in explaining social violence and political cleavages in the region is the longstanding policy of state dictators, monarchs and clan leaders alike, who exploit and manipulate sectarian differences within Islam in order to maintain authoritarian power.
Protests Against Islamization Fuel Violence Against Muslims and Jews in Germany

December 17, 2014

The measurable uptick in anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim violence in Germany by xenophobic groups and hooligans, often cooperating with the organizers of Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West (“PEGIDA”), is raising concerns in the German government about social unrest catalyzed by European immigration policy and conflicts in the Mideast.
U.K. Parliament Debates Impacts of Sharia in Society

December 17, 2014

The House of Lords debated the impact of sharia ideas, practices, and laws in the United Kingdom, with particular focus on the discriminatory and deleterious effects on women through practices including polygamy, legal protections for mothers vis-a-vis their children, and female genital mutilation (“FGM”).
Turkey Moves to Islamicize Education System

December 11, 2014

Turkey's National Education Council is proposing a set of comprehensive educational reforms designed to intensify the Islamicization of the country's K-12 education system and to implement the governing Islamist party's vision for "raising a devout generation."