Free Republic

Ground-breaking research shows six in 10 Muslim wives in England and Wales are not legally marriedWhen Rukhsana Noor completed her online dating profile, she thought she had taken her first step towards finding love. In reality, she had set off on a path that would lead her to a lengthy legal battle that would cost her hundreds of thousands of pounds. Ms Noor had many good things in her life: a university education, a professional career and a good salary, but she had always dreamt of having children. As a single woman, she, like many other British Muslims, was...

Friday’s bloodthirsty attack on a mosque in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula during noontime prayers was a crime against all humanity. It wasn’t “just” an attack on Muslims. It was an attack on all of us who believe in civilization, tolerance and decency. At least 235 peaceful worshippers died, with more than 100 wounded. One is tempted to call it the work of beasts, but no creature in the animal kingdom behaves with such avid, calculated cruelty. Yet, the attack can be explained — though the explanation only makes it worse. Islamist fanatics struck with bombs and automatic weapons, slaughtering first the...

In his last phone call home, Lance Cpl. Gregory Buckley Jr. told his father what was troubling him: From his bunk in southern Afghanistan, he could hear Afghan police officers sexually abusing boys they had brought to the base. “At night we can hear them screaming, but we’re not allowed to do anything about it,” the Marine’s father, Gregory Buckley Sr., recalled his son telling him before he was shot to death at the base in 2012. He urged his son to tell his superiors. “My son said that his officers told him to look the other way because it’s...

At least 155 people were killed and more than 120 wounded in a bombing and shooting attack against worshipers at a mosque in the northern Sinai after Friday prayers. Egypt's government has declared three days of mourning in response to the attack that struck the Al-Rawdah mosque in Bir al-Abed west of El-Arish. The attack was complex and involved bombs and shooting. Reuters reports that witnesses saw terrorists enter the mosque to kill worshipers during Friday prayers, when mosques see the largest attendance. The attack began around noon time. They also attempted to prevent rescue services from reaching the area.

“Dopey” Prince Alaweed Was Warned — Now He Sits In Prison In December 2015 Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal slammed Donald Trump for proposing a ban on Muslim immigrants in the US after the San Bernardino attacks. Donald Trump hit the “dopey prince” back twice as hard. "Detained members of Saudi elite have been hung by their feet and beaten by interrogates, source says. Among those hung upside down are Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, an investor worth at least $7 billion who is being held at Riyadh’s Ritz Carlton. Saudi princes and billionaire businessmen arrested in a power grab earlier...

The attack happened in the town of Mubi in Adamawa State as worshipers were gathering for the “fajr” dawn prayer at around 5:20 a.m. local time, said Othman Abubakar, a police spokesman. The bomber was about 17 years old, Abubakar added. Many more people were injured and taken to nearby hospitals. So far no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but over the past eight years, jihadist group Boko Haram has carried out hundreds of deadly attacks on mosques, schools, markets and churches in northern Nigeria. Boko Haram, whose name translates roughly as “western education is forbidden,” frequently uses children...

Iranian Rev Guards Gen. Soleimani sets up a forward war-room in Syria after Assad’s army and Hizballah failed to recover strategic Abu Kamal from ISIS. The Revolutionary Guards Al Qods chief Gen Qassem Soleimani, supreme commander of Iranian warfronts in Syria and Iraq, was seen on Sunday morning, Nov. 19, at the scene of the Abu Kamal battle, the key southeastern town near the border with Iraq (in Deir ez-Zour province), after Syrian and Hizballah forces had failed to recapture the town from an Islamic State counteroffensive.Military sources reporting this, disclose that Soleimani’s deputy Khairallah Samadi was killed in battle....

The next Saudi King Crown Prince Muhammad and Israel agree that Iran is the biggest threat to the region, but Israel’s top soldier rules out initiating an attack on Hizballah. Two London publications on the same day shed unusual light on the next chapter in Saud royal history, as well as on the hitherto semi-clandestine ties between Riyadh and Jerusalem. Daily Mail, quoting “a source close to the Saudi royal family” reported that King Salman, 91, intends to give up the throne next week and name his son, Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, 32 as his successor. The king will...

This week, Tehran announced it would continue a missile development program that defense analysts say could allow Iran to launch nuclear weapons. It was a public threat that has understandably stirred strong response from the U.S. and the west: the risk of nuclear proliferation by a fanatical regime is indeed a threat to millions across the region. But there is another, potentially greater threat from within Iran, one made more insidious by the fact that no one outside of Iran seems to care but which nonetheless imperils the values and moral conscience of the civilized world. I am speaking of...

At least 50 people have been killed in a suicide bombing in the north-eastern Nigerian town of Mubi, police say. The mosque was packed with worshippers during morning prayers when the bomber struck in Adamawa state. Witness Abubakar Sule told AFP news agency that it appears the bomber was part of the congregation. No-one has said they were behind the bombing but the Islamist militants Boko Haram typically target crowded places in northern Nigeria. Some 20,000 people have been killed in Boko Haram's eight-year insurgency.

The dramatic events in Saudi Arabia of the past few days portend a game change in the Middle East not seen in decades. Predictably, the mainstream media, desperate as they are to find something, anything to blame on President Trump, have completely missed it. Instead, they have babbled about the market implications of the arrests of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and Co., Saudi Arabia ‘emerging’ as an arms manufacturer, conflict with Hezbollah, palace intrigue, etc. etc. Few have put their finger on the actual events – a palace revolution in Riyadh that could change the Middle East in profound and...

Actor James Woods took aim at the Mall of America on Monday by posting a 45-second video showing hundreds of Muslims gathering at Nickelodeon Universe, the seven-acre indoor amusement park in the center of Bloomington mall. The conservative actor says “I would suggest getting your Christmas shopping done early. Oh, wait ...” Woods, a prolific user of Twitter with more than 1 million followers, frequently tweets on conservative causes. His Mall of America tweet had more than 12,000 likes and about 9,000 retweets Tuesday. Many of the nearly 5,000 commenters supported Woods, but it also has generated backlash. Although it...

It’s a looming heavyweight prizefight that nobody wants to see come off. But should escalating tensions between bitter regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia break out into open conflict, Riyadh’s formidable military arsenal would quickly overwhelm Iranian forces in a conventional war, while Tehran would hold the advantage against any Saudi forces in a proxy guerrilla war, analysts say. The animosity between the two main pillars of power in the Middle East has escalated over the past week, when Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry ordered all Saudi nationals to immediately evacuate Lebanon. The move was presumably targeted at the growing power...

As much as we try to paint things black and white in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), nothing is ever that simple. Over the past week, the Anti-Corruption Committee in KSA, driven by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), effected a number of detentions of high-profile and wealthy Saudis on suspicion of various forms of corruption. Experts have argued whether the anti-corruption arrests are meant to be taken at face value or instead interpreted as a move towards political power consolidation. While it seems unlikely to be a power play since, to be frank, MBS already held it, a...

Tehran and Baghdad have reached an agreement on a plan to export oil from Kirkuk in northern Iraq to Iran... Until recently, all oil from the fields around Kirkuk was shipped to the Turkish port of Ceyhan via a pipeline owned and operated by the Kurdistan Regional Government. ...With the Kurdistan autonomous region heavily dependent on oil revenues, chances are the government will seek to come to a mutually beneficial agreement with the central government in Baghdad.

Bahrain said on Nov. 11 that an explosion which caused a fire at its main oil pipeline on Nov. 10 was caused by "terrorist" sabotage, linking the unprecedented attack to Iran, Reuters reported. A key Western ally and host to the U.S. Fifth Fleet, Sunni Muslim-ruled Bahrain has for years grappled with protests and sporadic violence coming from its Shiite majority. Iran denies any role in the Gulf island kingdom's unrest.

Following the failed coup of July 15, the Turkish government has begun a brutal crackdown on people who it claims have ties with the movement of Fethullah Gulen, an Islamic cleric living in Pennsylvania whom the government accuses of organizing the attempted coup.This scale of arrests and governmental pressures might be new to Muslim Turks, but Armenians – the victims of Turkish racism for all seasons – are being targeted again.The newspaper Agos covered the latest rights abuses against Armenians:Armenian trainer fired under the cover of “Fethullah Terrorist Organization”As part of the purge that was started after the coup attempt,...

While turbulent during the best of times, gigantic waves of change are now sweeping across the Middle East. The magnitude is such that the impact on the global price of oil, as well as world markets, is likely to be enormous. A dramatic geo-political realignment by Saudi Arabia is in full swing this month. It’s upending many decades of established strategic relationships among the world's superpowers and, in particular, is throwing the Middle East into turmoil. So much is currently in flux, especially in Saudi Arabia, that nearly anything can happen next. Which is precisely why this volatile situation should...

Riyadh, Safar 20, 1439, November 09, 2017, SPA -- Due to the situations in the Republic of Lebanon, the official source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the Saudi nationals visiting or residing in Lebanon are asked to leave the country as soon as possible. The Kingdom advised all citizens not to travel to Lebanon from any other international destinations. --SPA 17:24 LOCAL TIME 14:24 GMT

A couple of years ago I attended seminars with Chinese and Israeli counterterrorism experts in Beijing, in my capacity as a board member of a foundation that promotes Sino-Israel relations. A senior Chinese official complained that the Saudi royal family funds every radical madrassa in Xinjiang province, where Muslim Uyghurs of Turkish ethnicity form the majority. With a long and porous border stretching through sparsely-populated lands, Chinese security couldn’t prevent the funds from pouring in. I asked our Chinese hosts why they didn’t remonstrate with the Saudi government. The Chinese official said, “We talk to the Saudis all the time,...