Pakistan’s government reaches deal with Islamists to end protest

Pakistan’s government and an outlawed radical Islamist party reached an agreement to end a 10-day long, and at times deadly violent, rally calling for the closure of France’s embassy and the release of the party’s leader. Neither foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi nor religious leader Mufti Muneebur Rehman, who took part in the talks, gave […]

Network of Khatme Nabuwat Supporters Involved in Anti-Macron Protests

On the 30th of October, a rally of about a hundred protestors rounded on the French Embassy in Central London and conducted a ‘sit-in’ around the bounds of the Embassy. The demonstrators, it seems, had traveled to London to shower the Embassy with chants and raised fists in the air. It was a show of […]

New arrest by French investigators probing church attack in Nice

Detectives investigating an attack by a Tunisian man who killed three people in a Nice church have a second suspect in custody, as France heightens its security alert amid religious and geopolitical tensions around cartoons mocking the Muslim Prophet Muhammad. Tunisian anti-terrorism authorities have opened an investigation into an online claim that the attack was […]

Demonstrations across France to pay tribute to murdered teacher

Demonstrations have been called around France in support of freedom of speech and to pay tribute to a history teacher who was beheaded near Paris after discussing caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed with his class. Samuel Paty was decapitated on Friday by an 18-year-old Moscow-born Chechen refugee, who was then shot dead by police. Political […]

French leader decries Islamist terror attack against teacher

French President Emmanuel Macron has denounced what he called an “Islamist terrorist attack” against a history teacher decapitated in a Paris suburb. The teacher had discussed caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed with his class, authorities said. The suspected attacker was shot by police after Friday’s beheading. The French anti-terrorism prosecutor opened an investigation concerning murder […]

Charlie Hebdo artist seized by gunmen recalls sheer terror during 2015 attack

The Charlie Hebdo caricaturist who was forced at gunpoint to open the satirical newspaper’s door to two al Qaida extremists has described the moments of sheer terror during the 2015 attack in France. Corinne Rey had tears in her eyes but her voice was clear as she gave evidence at the trial of 13 men […]

Lassana Bathily, the Paris Kosher Supermarket Hero Comes to the UK with Faith Matters

Lassana Bathily saved many lives on that fateful day on January the 9th 2015. Unbeknown to him as he carried out his shop duties in the Paris Kosher supermarket, the establishment was about to be targeted by a young man who believed that his ‘Jihad’ was to target Jews as they shopped for Shabbath. Amedy […]

How do you balance between free speech and criticism of religion?

When Charlie Hebdo published cartoons of The Prophet Mohammed early in 2015 there was a violent and deadly backlash. The magazine’s office were invaded and several employees were murdered in cold blood. A few years ago a Danish magazine published other cartoons and there was a vociferous Muslim outcry. These and other events have prompted many commentators, comedians and controllers of various media to speak in defence of the ‘freedom of speech’. Why should they restrain themselves when discussing Islam? A new phrase ‘self-censorship’ has been coined and applies explicitly to matters with a Muslim and Islamic links. The implication is that commentators are being asked by the state or the establishment voluntarily to impose restrictions on what they say. Let me say from the outset that I am not a Muslim but I have a personal interest in the history of religious practices and from that an interest in interfaith issues. Until late in life I had no idea what about Islam. Like many older people, my religious education did not introduce Islam as a religion, but from history I learned that Moors were ‘alien invaders’ spreading across North Africa until they were halted in Spain by Christians. My [...]

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