At a time when calls for reforming the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) are getting stronger, we find a devious move to scuttle the reform process altogether by some UK-based bigots obsessed with depriving our Muslim women here of a basic human right. One such is the so-called ‘Strengthen MMDA’ movement and their mouthpiece, a woman going by the …

A view of Ibrahimi Mosque RAMALLAH, Palestine:  The Israeli army on Saturday closed the Ibrahimi Mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron to Muslim worshippers, according to the mosque director. Sheikh Hefzy Abu Asinina told Anadolu Agency that the Israeli army only allowed settlers to visit the site to mark the Chayei Sarah occasion. “The mosque has been closed …

Exclusive: Mahmoud al-Zahar talks about potential prisoner exchanges, May’s Gaza-Israel war, the current shaky ceasefire and the likelihood of further conflict, and affirms the movement wants Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti freed. In May, the Israeli military and Gaza’s armed groups engaged in 11 days of brutal warfare, resulting in the deaths of 270 Palestinians and 13 Israelis. Since then a …

In 851 AD, an Arab merchant, called Soleyman, wrote an account of his travels to the island of Serendib. Impressionistic but insightful, it records the earliest known engagement of a Muslim with Sri Pada, also known as Samantukuta. Soleyman does not refer to Sri Pada as “aadam malayi”, the name we see in later Muslim reconstructions of the peak. Instead …

The government approved  prohibition of cattle slaughter in order to increase local dairy industry. The decision was announced at the weekly cabinet meeting at the Information Department today. Accordingly, approval of the cabonet was granted on September 28 and permitted to amend the laws and regulations applicable to it and to amend laws passed by the local government institutions in …

Israeli forces seen raiding the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem in June [File: Ammar Awad/Reuters] Dozens wounded and arrested in Israeli raids on Palestinians at Damascus Gate and in surrounding areas. Occupied East Jerusalem – Israeli forces violently raided Damascus Gate and surrounding streets in occupied East Jerusalem for the second day in a row during a Palestinian …