The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on June 14 expressed concern about the acceptance of anti-Muslim sentiment displayed by Republican presidential candidates during last night’s debate in New Hampshire. On June 13 the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections, a national coalition of major Muslim organisations, asked candidates to reject Islamophobia during the debate.

CAIR was encouraged by former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s response t...

Morocco’s reformed constitution will make officials more accountable and will give the government greater powers, but King Mohammed will remain a key power-broker in the security, military and religious fields, according to a draft. After facing the biggest anti-establishment protests in decades, King Mohammed in March ordered a hand-picked committee to conduct consultations with political parties, trade unions and civil society groups on constitutional...

Spain has frozen 33 million euros ($47 million) in accounts held by a detained Egyptian associate of ousted President Hosni Mubarak and relatives of the detainee, who is also wanted back home. Hussein Salem, 77, his son and an associate described as a front man were arrested in a wealthy Madrid suburb. The money was allegedly obtained illegally in Egypt and sent to accounts in Spain held by Salem, his family and his business empire. Police also seized homes worth 10 million e...

Syrian security forces killed at least 16 people on June 17, including a teenage boy, as thousands of people poured into the streets across the country calling for the downfall of President Bashar Assad’s regime. The unrest also appeared to be spilling over into neighbouring Lebanon. A senior member of a Lebanese political party allied with Syria and an off-duty soldier were killed after gunmen opened fire and lobbed a grenade near hundreds of people holding an anti-Ass...

Hundreds of Iraqis are rallying in central Baghdad in duelling pro- and anti-government demonstrations. Supporters of Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki descended on Tahrir Square for a rally that appears to be an attempt to overshadow the small group of anti-government protesters who demonstrate weekly in the capital.

The anti-government group criticised Al-Maliki for failing to improve government services after his self-imposed time limit for enacting reforms expired Ju...

Five Palestinian peace activists were wounded on June 17 by Israeli forces during weekly anti-separation wall rallies in various West Bank villages. Palestinian sources said that three Palestinians were wounded by Israeli soldiers in the village of Bil’in to the west of Ramallah. The sources said that Rabei’ Turkman and Issa Abu Rahmeh were wounded in their hands by tear gas canisters. The sources said that teenager Moussa Yassin was wounded when a tear gas canist...

Work is under way to establish the first global Islamic historical encyclopaedia of its kind on the Haj, Makkah, the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah. Involved in the preparation of the encyclopaedia are Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Institute for Haj Research and King Abdul Aziz Foundation for Research and Archive (Al-Darah).

The second track of the encyclopaedia is to build a database of Haj, which includes the works and manuscripts, travel...

Hifzur Rahman, press secretary at the Indian Embassy in Riyadh received his doctorate recently from the Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) in New Delhi for his dissertation titled “Social Trends in Saudi Novels 1930–2000.” This is the first research project on Saudi writers carried out in India.

“The Saudi novel in all stages of its inception, development, boom and prosperity, has been closely associated with society and has dealt with many of society&...