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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: fatwa

fatwa stories: 7 news summaries

Ian McEwan: I Sheltered Rushdie After 1989 Fatwa

Novelist reveals how he protected his friend

(Newser) - Twenty years after the Iranian leadership declared a death sentence on Salman Rushdie, fellow novelist Ian McEwan reveals that he sheltered the writer in a house in the English countryside. In a long profile of McEwan in the New Yorker, the novelist describes how the pair listened to news of... More »

OPINION

Fatwa Against Rushdie Set Off Self-Censorship

Edict brought Muslim
culture war to the
West: Hitchens

(Newser) - When Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against Salman Rushdie, Christopher Hitchens knew what it meant: "This was not just a warning of what was to come,” he writes in Vanity Fair, “it was the warning.” A global culture war, between Muslim fundamentalists and... More »

(Newser) - Islamic authorities in Malaysia issued a fatwa today against Muslims practicing yoga, BBC reports. The chair of Malaysia's National Fatwa Council said Hindu elements are essential to yoga and could destroy a Muslim's faith. "We are of the view that yoga combines physical exercise, religious elements, chanting and worshipping... More »

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Muslim fatwa Malaysia Yoga

Zardari Slapped With Fatwa for Flirting With Palin

Pakistani feminists also angry at president for 'shameful' behavior

(Newser) - Asif Ali Zardari’s overly-friendly interaction with Sarah Palin earned Pakistan’s president a fatwa from a conservative mosque for salacious behavior, not to mention the scorn of feminists who accuse him of objectifying the US vice-presidential candidate, the Christian Science Monitor reports. At the UN last week, Zardari told... More »

Saudi Judge:
Kill Offending Broadcasters

Sheik urges fatwa on owners of channels
with 'corrupt beliefs'

(Newser) - The highest judge in Saudi Arabia says “it is permissible” to murder owners of satellite TV networks that broadcast questionable material during Ramadan, the Guardian reports. When a caller to his radio show asked about channels featuring “bad programs,” Sheik Saleh al-Lihedan responded, “What does the... More »

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Saudi Arabia censorship Islamic Sharia law satellite TV fatwa Ramadan

Extremists, Militias Target Gays in Iraq

Officials, human rights groups dispute extent of escalating violence

(Newser) - Gays in Iraq are the targets of increasing violence by militias, police, and religious extremists, a largely unreported consequence of the 2003 US invasion. A fatwa is in place, reports the Chicago Tribune, and gays are fighting to emigrate to Sweden, Germany, and other countries. Recent reports by... More »

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Iraq sectarian violence human rights homosexuality fatwa gays

Egypt Suffers From a Fatwa Free-for-All

Urine-drinking, breastfeeding edicts jeopardize religious authority

(Newser) - The credibility of fatwas, the religious rulings that guide daily life for Muslims, is being strained in Egypt, the New York Times reports.  A flap ensued recently when one authority ruled in favor of  drinking the Prophet Mohammed’s urine and another approved co-ed workplaces if the women breast-fed... More »

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Islam law Egypt Muslim Mohammed fatwa

7 Stories