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Lahore (Agenzia Fides) - Maulana Muhammad Abdul Qadir Azad, who served the faithful as Grand Imam in the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore for about 30 years and died in January 2003, was considered "a great promoter of interreligious peace and harmony and above all of dialogue between Christians and Muslims. He was a great religious leader and a lover of peace. He was an ardent promoter of harmony between different Muslim communities and people of other religions": says the Dominican, Fr. James Channan, director of the "Peace Center" in Lahore, preaching in the Badshahi Mosque, the "Royal Mosque" in Lahore....

20 years from now, I will be in Heaven -This was written by a woman born in Egypt as a Muslim. Joys of Muslim Women By Nonie Darwish In the Muslim faith a Muslim man can marry a child as young as 1 year old and have sexual intimacy with this child. Consummating the marriage by 9. The dowry is given to the family in exchange for the woman (who becomes his slave) and for the purchase of the private parts of the woman, to use her as a toy. Even though a woman is abused she cannot obtain a...

Lahore (Agenzia Fides) - To commemorate the historic event of the encounter between St. Francis with the Sultan of Egypt, AL-Kamil in the year 1219, modernize it in today's Pakistan, launching a universal message of tolerance, friendship, dialogue, common commitment for peace: in this spirit the National Commission for Interreligious Dialogue and Ecumenism, within the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Pakistan, organized a meeting to inaugurate the activities that, in 2019, will commemorate the event in Pakistan 800 years ago, in the name of Islamic-Christian dialogue. As Agenzia Fides learns, Franciscan Sebastian Shaw, Archbishop of Lahore and President of the...

Places of worship, especially non-Islamic ones, are one of the most controversial issues in Indonesia. The dispute began last August. Complaints stem from the lack of permits for the use of residential housing for religious purposes.Jakarta (AsiaNews) – The local Synod of Churches of Indonesia (MPH-PGIW) has condemned the latest "episode of intolerance" against a Protestant community in Medan Labuan, North Sumatra (Sumatera) province. Three days ago, local Muslims (picture 1) staged a protest that prevented the members of the Bethel Church of Indonesia of Philadelphia (GBI), in Martubung district, from entering a house of prayer. The authorities claim that...

Devastated by Jihadists of the Islamic State in 2014Syrian President Bashar al Assad has pledged to rebuild with state funding the church-sanctuary of the Armenian martyrs located in the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor, which was devastated by the jihadists of the Islamic State (Daesh ) in September 2014, Fides News Agency reported January 11, 2019. The intention to revive the shrine dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide from its rubble – refer Armenian sources such as Armenpress, and also channel Ishtar TV – was expressed by the Syrian President during a recent meeting with a delegation of...

Fr. Paul describes Christmas celebrations in the former stronghold of the Islamic State. Liturgies on the Nineveh plain "crowded and vibrant". A new Archbishop in Mosul to rebuild the community, on a pastoral and social level. Christians and Muslims against obscurantism, ask for "dialogue and modernity".Mosul (AsiaNews) - If 2014 was "the black year" with the flight of the bishop, priests and faithful following the rise of the Islamic State (IS, ex Isis), then 2019 will be the year "of our rebirth, of pastoral and social challenges, of the return of the refugees," says Fr. Paul Thabit Mekko, the head...

“The Declaration of Islamabad is a step in the right direction. We need to develop it to improve the image of the country: this is the way forward: government and opposition must work together to legislate on good policies, while civil society, religious communities and all citizens must work together for the social, civil and cultural progress of our country.” These were the words of Fr. Bonnie Mendes, a Pakistani Catholic priest of Faisalabad, former regional coordinator of Caritas Asia, reported January 8, 2019, by Fides News Agency. He commented on the publication of the “Islamabad Declaration”, in which over...

The German government has started to request that those countries register any funding they may provide to mosques in Germany, a report says. The move aims to discourage radicalization in German mosques.The German Foreign Ministry wants Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and other Gulf states to register any donations or state subsidies intended for mosques in Germany. According to daily Süddeutsche Zeitung and German broadcasters WDR and NDR, the government has involved both the domestic and foreign intelligence services to monitor who sends the money and who receives it. The Gulf states are also required to alert German authorities if a...

Pope Francis is due in the UAE on February 3, which will be the first time a leader of the Catholic Church has visited the GulfThe Pope’s visit to the UAE will be a momentous occasion for the Gulf region, said Dr Anwar Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. Pope Francis is due in the country on February 3. His trip will be the first time a leader of the Roman Catholic Church visits the Gulf. His visit will be a highlight of the UAE’s Year of Tolerance, during which religious acceptance will be an important feature. Dr Gargash...

Al Fadi is a former Wahabbi Muslim from Saudi Arabia. He is the researcher, editor, writer, and translator for numerous ministries, including "Answering Islam" and runs an outreach ministry designed for non-Muslim and Christians. Al Fadi came to America to convert people to Islam, but was challenged by his own faith.

Buildings Destroyed by ‘Muslim Brotherhood’On the occasion of the inauguration of the national social construction plan in recent days President Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi renewed his commitment regarding the renovation of churches destroyed by the “Muslim Brotherhood”: a dossier that was neglected by the previous governments, according to a December 17, 2018, report by Fides News Agency. At the same time, the government is working to legalize other Christian holy buildings and is granting permits for the construction of new Coptic churches and institutes. The churches in Egypt have had to initiate restructuring and modernization projects to erase the consequences of...

Buried in the concluding paragraphs of a Christmas Eve Washington Times report about Muslims in Uganda forcing Christians to convert to Islam was the extraordinary revelation that in that country, Muslims now consider any public statement of the Christian Faith to be a calculated insult to Muslims, for which they can justifiably exact revenge. This is, or should be, sobering news for the comfortable Christians of the West who have made an idol out of “interfaith dialogue” and fastidiously avoid saying anything remotely critical about Islam, even as the Muslim persecution of Christians continues worldwide. “In June,” the Times reported,...

Misrata, Libya, Dec 28, 2018 / 01:48 pm (CNA).- A mass grave of 34 Ethiopian Christians executed by the so-called Islamic State group in 2015 has reportedly been unearthed in Libya. The bodies have been exhumed and will be eventually repatriated to Ethiopia, the Libyan interior ministry says. Libyan government authorities found the mass grave Dec. 23 after obtaining information from arrested Islamic State members. The grave appears to be located on a farm near the coastal city of Sirte, 170 miles southeast of Misrata. Islamic State gained control of Sirte in 2015, but United Nations-backed forces regained control of...

Fr Amer, a Syro-Catholic priest, describes how the atmosphere in the Syrian capital resembles that of “before the war.” Parishes are crowded and streets are decorated courtesy of the municipality. Reconciliation requires solidarity with the poor Muslims of Ghouta.Damascus (AsiaNews) – Syrian Christians hope for "a Christmas of forgiveness and reconciliation", embracing "the whole country, non-Christians included”. Without a new culture, one that doesn’t forget the wounds but goes beyond them, it will not be possible to build "a future of coexistence,” said Fr Amer Kassar, of the Church of Our Lady of Fatima in Damascus. Speaking, to AsiaNews, the...

A Syriac Catholic priest in the Northern Iraqi town of Bartella tells the Register of recent efforts to threaten Christians so they leave the region, and why security, jobs and a greater Christian presence are needed there more than ever. Although ISIS have, at least visibly, been driven out of Iraq, the country's Christians continue to be intimidated by Muslim militants who would rather Christians quit Iraq, even though the Church there dates back to the first century. A clear example of this was seen two weeks ago when Shabak militia, a mainly Shia Muslim militant group, fired shots into...

More than 90,000 police and soldiers will also protect nearly 50,000 churches More than 90,000 police and soldiers and a moderate Muslim youth group will help guard nearly 50,000 churches across Indonesia, including some previously attacked by terrorists, during the Christmas period. Brig Gen Dedi Prasetyo, national police spokesman, said Christmas security this year will be focused on churches in 13 provinces, including on the main islands of Java and Sumatra, reported ucanews.com. The deployments would be to “anticipate” possible security threats, Prasetyo added. Among the churches to be tightly secured is Santa Maria Church in Surabaya, which was attacked...

The Strasbourg Attack and Islam Concealed The attack in Strasbourg, Islam and the "problems" of the media telling the truth. By Andreas Becker and Martha Burger The attack in Strasbourg, Islamic terrorism and the media with the self-imposed muzzle. In Strasbourg, yesterday in an attack on a Christmas market, three people were killed and many injured. Despite being obliged to provide information, the "leading media" are having a hard time telling the truth to their audience. Rita Katz, the founder and operator of Site, a private documentation center for monitoring the activities of the Islamic State (IS), reported with evidence...

I'm hoping at least some Muslims who watch this will begin to allow other opinions to be sucked into the vacuum of Islamic thought on issues related to the text of the New Testament.

FORT WORTH, Texas (RNS) — Lisa Grimaldi Abdulkareem describes herself as a conservative Republican who believes in freedom and prosperity. “Less bureaucracy, lower taxes and stronger national security — it is simple for me,” said Abdulkareem, the Tarrant County GOP’s vice chair for precinct recruitment and volunteers. However, some Republican activists in the Lone Star State’s most conservative urban county want Abdulkareem removed from the party’s leadership. The reason: She’s married to a Muslim. Abdulkareem, a nondenominational Christian, has been caught up in a political civil war that has raged in the Tarrant County GOP for months, pitting Republicans who...

I give a brief review of Michael Youssef's new book, which analyzes the threat to the West from Islam, and how the corruption of contemporary Christianity has undermined are will to resist this menace.