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As the time for afternoon prayers approaches, Onder Soy puts on a white robe and cap and switches on the microphone in a small 19th century room adjoining the Hagia Sophia. Soon, Soy’s melodic call to prayer rings out over a square filled with tourists hurrying to visit some of Turkey’s most famous historical sights before they close for the day. The room Soy is in — built as a resting place for the sultan and now officially called the Hagia Sophia mosque — fills up with around 40 worshipers, drawn not by the modestly decorated space itself, but by...

A mosque in the capital of the United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi was renamed on Wednesay to “Mariam Umm Eisa” – meaning mother of Jesus in Arabic. The move was aimed at promoting social connections between followers of different religions and strengthen the common characteristics between them, local media reported. The name of the mosque, previously known as “Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Mosque,” was changed by order of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed al-Nahyan to “consolidate bonds of humanity between followers of different religions”. UAE's Minister of State for Tolerance Sheikha Lubna al-Qasimi said the move reflected...

A van has reportedly crashed into pedestrians outside a mosque in London, causing a "number of casualties". Officers arrested one person after they were called shortly after midnight to the incident on Seven Sisters Road, near Finsbury Park station. Police said they were responding to a "major incident" with "a number of casualties being worked on at the scene". Witnesses reported seeing six people on the ground after the van ploughed into worshippers who had been attending evening prayers at the Muslim Welfare House. London Ambulance Service said they had sent "a number of resources" to the incident.

The mosque became notorious when Abu Hamza al-Masri became the imam in 1997. Hamza, who had one eye and no hands and used hook devices, lied that the injuries were suffered when he fought for al-Qaeda against Russian forces in Afghanistan. He preached a strict interpretation of Islamic law and was outspoken about acts of terrorism. In a sermon he spoke about the need for Jihad: “Allah likes those who believe in Him who kill those who do not believe in Him. Allah likes that. So if you Muslims don’t like that because you hate the blood, there is something...

PM Theresa May says Finsbury Park attack was "evil" Islamophobic terrorism. • An unnamed white man drove into people exiting a Mosque in north London in the early hours Monday morning, killing one and leaving at least 10 others injured. • May says security at mosques across Britain will be reviewed in wake of the attack. LONDON — Prime Minister Theresa May has denounced the attack on Finsbury Park Mosque an act of Islamophobic terrorism "every bit as sickening" as other attacks against Britain in recent months. Speaking at Number 10 Downing Street on Monday morning, May said the attack...

A Davis woman has been sentenced to five years of probation for breaking windows and leaving bacon at a mosque near Sacramento. The Sacramento Bee reports that 30-year-old Lauren Kirk-Coehlo was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty in April. The graduate of UC Berkeley had been jailed since her arrest in mid-February. She admitted vandalizing the Davis Islamic Center in January, destroying six windows and two bicycles. Kirk-Coehlo had faced up to six years in prison after also admitting to a hate-crime allegation. Officials say she put bacon strips on door handles. Muslims are prohibited from eating pork products. {..snip..}

Abu Dhabi's crown prince ordered the change to 'consolidate bonds of humanity between followers of different religions'A mosque in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital, has been renamed “Mary, Mother of Jesus”. Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Abu Dhabi crown prince and deputy supreme commander of the UAE armed forces, ordered that the mosque be renamed to “consolidate bonds of humanity between followers of different religions.” Mary plays a prominent role in the Christian and Islamic traditions. Reverend Canon Andrew Thompson of St. Andrew’s Church, an Anglican parish near the newly renamed mosque, expressed is gratitude in an...

A 'liberal mosque' where all Muslims can pray together regardless of their gender, sexuality or branch of Islam has opened in Germany. The Ibn Rushd-Goethe mosque, which is housed inside a Protestant church in Berlin, is the first of its kind in the country. Sunni and Shiite believers are encouraged to preach alongside one another and women will not be allowed to wear veils.

The imam of a Galway mosque which was attacked during the hour of prayer on Monday evening has appealed for “calm” in the wake of the London terrorist attack. Imam Ibrahim Ahmad Noonan of the Masjid Maryam mosque in Galway told The Irish Times that up to 100 members of the Galway mosque were left “terrified” when rocks smashed through the windows during the attack on Monday evening. The attack comes in the wake of the terror attack in London on Saturday night and news that one of the three attackers lived for a time in Ireland and got married...

Police are investigating after someone placed body parts of dead pigs on wooden stakes at the construction site of a planned mosque in Erfurt. Half of a pig’s head as well as pig feet and entrails were among the body parts found on the nine 1.5-meter wooden stakes at the site of the planned mosque, according to police on Monday. The pig may have been used because many Muslims do not eat pork. A criminal police unit is now investigating who was responsible for the act. “It should simply not be the case that minorities are attacked in this way...

One year ago today, Turkish President Recep Erdogan was in the Washington, D.C. area to open a new $100 million mosque complex funded by the Turkish government and operated by the Diyanet, Turkey's religious affairs ministry. Needless to say, the opening of the Diyanet complex received international media attention: But on the one-year anniversary of the opening of the Diyanet Center of America, questions about its true purpose are being raised. There are ongoing investigations by European officials into widespread spying allegations implicating Turkish government-funded Diyanet mosques across the continent. The investigations center on whether the mosques are spying on...

Larger Muslim community wants apology from mosque and wonders why controversial imam was invited to preach A Montreal mosque is facing a police complaint and rebukes from the larger Muslim community after a video of an imam delivering a sermon in which he asks for Jews to be killed surfaced online. The sermon took place at the Dar Al-Arqam Mosque in the city's Saint-Michel neighbourhood on Dec. 23, 2016. The video was posted to the mosque's YouTube channel three days later. The imam in the video is Jordanian cleric Sheikh Muhammad bin Musa Al Nasr — he was reportedly an...

FBI agents have met with leaders of an Iowa mosque about a threatening note it received in the mail. Dr. Samir Shams, the president of the Islamic Center of Des Moines, says he found the handwritten note Sunday morning. It said Muslims were a “vile” people and that President Donald Trump would “do to you Muslims what Hitler did to the Jews.” The note was signed only “Americans for a Better Way.” Shams says Muslims must take such notes seriously. …

FULL TITLE: Construction of German mosque is halted after right-wing activists hammer ten giant crosses into building site Right-wing extremists in Germany have hampered the construction of a mosque by erecting ten large crosses at the site. The group, planted the wooden structures in the small village of Marbach, near Erfurt, in the central eastern state of Thuringia, in early March. The owner of the site has said he plans to take legal action against the activists, named as 'Citizens for Erfurt'.

For eight decades, the iconic Hagia Sophia [Ἁγία Σοφία, “Holy Wisdom”] – museum in Istanbul [Constantinople] has stood as a symbol of Turkey’s commitment to a secular society. Now that tradition is under siege by growing calls to convert the historic structure back into a practicing mosque. The 1,500-year-old structure originally was built as an Orthodox Christian cathedral. It was turned into a mosque in the 15th century after the Ottoman Turks defeated the Greek emperor in Constantinople and renamed the city Istanbul. In the 1930s, the founder of modern Turkey, Kemal Ataturk, turned it into a museum in his...

Islam means peace. Islam means peace. Islam means ... well, also this: DRAMATIC footage has emerged of a fight outside a Preston mosque. The Sunday Herald Sun understands the dispute was sparked over the banning of Sheik Abdou Eid. The footage showed a large crowd of men pushing and shoving outside the mosque on Friday. ... Vicious infighting threatens to tear apart the congregation of one of Melbourne's largest mosques, amid claims that millions of dollars of donations have disappeared and accusations that a sheikh had behaved inappropriately with women. The conflict came to a head last week when Sheikh...

A city of 130,000 people in southeastern Michigan is under the gun of Islamic pressure following its denial of a mega-mosque in a residential neighborhood populated largely by Christian refugees who fled Islamic persecution in Iraq. Sterling Heights already has two mosques, but a third, the American Islamic Community Center, applied for a permit and was rejected after it was determined its proposed use was incompatible with the residential area. Too much traffic, too little parking, the city planning commission decided by a 9-0 vote against the mosque in September 2015. But in December, the mosque sued the city and...

A Maryland-based mosque held a memorial celebration Sunday for an Islamist assassin who was convicted of murdering a Pakistani governor for criticizing the country’s blasphemy laws. The Gulzar E Madina mosque hosted an “Urs” for convicted murderer Mumtaz Qadri, reported Ehsan Rehan of the Rabwah Times, a Pakistan-based news agency. Urs is a traditional death anniversary usually reserved for Sufi saints celebrated by Muslims in South Asia. A Pakistani high court charged Qadri with murder after he killed Salman Taseer, the former governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province. Qadri, who was part of Taseer’s bodyguard, shot him 27 times with an...

An unemployed Davis resident has been arrested and charged with vandalizing the Davis Islamic Center last month in what both state and federal prosecutors are calling a hate crime.

An ex-convict who posted anti-Islamic rants online pleaded no contest Monday to setting fire to a mosque that the Orlando nightclub shooter occasionally attended was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Joseph Schreiber, dressed in a burnt orange jumpsuit, his wrists and ankles shackled, pleaded no contest during Monday's hearing before Circuit Judge Steven Levin. Schreiber answered Levin's questions in a clear, unwavering voice before sentencing. A no contest plea is treated the same as a guilty plea. He had confessed to detectives that he set fire to the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce last Sept. 11, the 15th anniversary...