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Now you see him, now you don't. [5 min video]

The attack came only a week after a similar blast killed dozens of Shiite worshippers in the country's north. Friday's explosion occurred at the Fatimiya mosque in central Kandahar, a Taliban spokesman told the AP. Local officials described it as a Shiite mosque. The cause of the blast isn't yet clear, and there was no immediate claim of responsibility. A witness, Murtaza, who goes by one name as many people in Afghanistan do, told the AP by phone that four suicide bombers entered the mosque — two detonating explosives at a security gate to clear the way for the other...

A large explosion tore through a Shi'ite mosque in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar during Friday prayers, killing at least 33 people and wounding 73, officials said, the second massive attack in a week targeting worshippers from the minority sect. A local reporter in Kandahar told Reuters that eyewitnesses had described three suicide attackers, one of whom blew himself up at the entrance to the mosque with the two others detonating their devices inside the building. ... The blast took place just days after an attack claimed by Islamic State militants, which killed scores of Shi'ite worshippers at a...

A suicide bomb attack on worshippers at a Shiite mosque in the Afghan city of Kunduz killed at least 55 people on Friday (Oct 8), in the bloodiest assault since US forces left the country. Scores more victims from the minority community were wounded in the blast, which was claimed by the Islamic State group and appeared designed to further destabilise Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban takeover. The extremist group, bitter rivals of the Taliban, has repeatedly targeted Shiites in a bid to stir up sectarian violence in Sunni-majority Afghanistan.

A powerful explosion has hit a mosque in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz during Friday prayers, killing at least six people, officials say. Images posted on social media said to be of the aftermath of the blast show extensive damage in the mosque, used by the minority Shia Muslim community. The death toll is expected to rise. Sunni Muslim extremists have often targeted members of the Shia community in the past because they consider them to be heretics.

The blast targeted the gates of the Eidgah Mosque in the Afghan capital, where a funeral service was being held for the mother of Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Muhajid, who tweeted that the blast had claimed the lives of civilians. It was not immediately clear how many people were killed or injured in the attack. Emergency NGO, an Italian nonprofit that runs a hospital in Kabul, said on Twitter that it was treating four people wounded in the explosion. Reports on social media described a large detonation and emergency services rushing to the scene. No one has claimed responsibility for the...

Eleven years ago, the Anti-Defamation League surprised many by opposing an Islamic center planned for Lower Manhattan, blocks from the World Trade Center site the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, even as its leader denounced anti-Muslim bigotry. Now, the ADL’s CEO says the position, taken four years before he joined the civil rights organization, was a mistake. “We were wrong, plain and simple,” Jonathan Greenblatt wrote in an op-ed published Saturday morning on CNN. […] The apology comes days before the 20th anniversary of the 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York City, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania It...

The Manassas Mosque, an Islamic worship center in Northern Virginia, will be able to claim 750 pounds of ceramic tiles inscribed with Koranic verses, the Treasury Department decided in a letter revealed Tuesday. ***** Imam Abolfazl Nahidian, spiritual leader of the Manassas Mosque, is a native of Qom who was offered the tiles during a visit to his hometown. He said, “Thank God the tiles were not re-exported and the verses of the Quran were not destroyed, and they were instead released for delivery to our mosque.”

11:51 AM · May 13, 2021 Meet Sheikh Yussef al-Baz, the Muslim religious leader in Lod. This morning he gathered hundreds of young people in a mosque in Lod and told them "to fight even if every day someone becomes a martyr", and "you have proved that your love for al-Aqsa is rooted in you". "The Jews are t...." Yesterday he called on the muezzin "to come and fight for the mosque". The city has 8 border companies, and he is not arrested.

At least 163 Palestinians and six Israeli police officers have been hurt in clashes in Jerusalem, Palestinian medics and Israeli police say. Most were injured at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, where Israeli police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades as Palestinians threw stones and bottles. Tensions have been rising over the potential eviction of Palestinians from land claimed by Jewish settlers.

Edouard de Lamaze, president of the Observatoire du Patrimoine Religieux (Observatory of Religious Heritage) in Paris, is sounding the alarm about the rapid erosion of France’s cultural heritage. “One mosque is erected every 15 days in France,” he said recently, “while one Christian building is destroyed at the same pace. It creates a tipping point on the territory that should be taken into account.” Yes, it should be taken into account by anyone, Christian or non-Christian, who is concerned about the future of France. But it isn’t.According to the Catholic News Agency, “Lamaze’s appeal for increased awareness came after a...

Although this happened in Nigeria, it is emblematic of what is happening all over the West today, including in the U.S. Non-Muslims are being generous, welcoming, and kind, without any particular concern for the possibility that not all of the recipients of their largesse might be interested in reciprocating their kindness. Bishop Stephen Mamza of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Yola, is building houses in Yola for people who have lost their homes due to jihad terror activity by the Islamic group Boko Haram, whose official name is People Committed to the Prophet’s Teachings for Proselytizing and Jihad. Since many...

Egypt's Minister of Religious Endowments Mohamed Gomaa ordered the closure of a Cairo mosque for two weeks for violating precautionary measures put in place to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, the press service of the ministry reported on Tuesday. "Minister Mohamed Gomaa, after praying at the Al-Nour mosque in the Abbassia district, decided to close it for two weeks from Tuesday due to the fact that worshipers in the mosque did not comply with the requirements of the ministry on the mandatory wearing of masks and availability of a personal prayer mat," the ministry said. The ministry added that any mosque...

France is much belatedly taking what many see as an immediate common sense approach to defeating terrorism against citizens, this after the latest series of ghastly terror attacks to hit the heart of Europe over cartoons depicting Mohammed, and after President Macron vowed not to cede France’s proud secular free speech traditions to the Islamists. “French authorities will swoop down Thursday on dozens of mosques and prayer halls suspected of radical teachings as part of a crackdown on Islamist extremists following a spate of attacks, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said,” according to French media. “Darmanin told RTL radio that if...

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a presidential decree on Friday turning the historic Holy Saviour in Chora, a medieval Byzantine church in western Constantinople that was a museum, into a mosque. The move follows the July decision to convert Hagia Sophia to a mosque, a move condemned by the international community. The change in its status was passed in December 2019 but the decision of the State Council of Turkey had not been implemented, until today. Chora is one of the most splendid examples of Byzantine art, and still preserves mosaics and frescoes. The interior is covered with Bible...

A local official in Atush, Xinjiang, confirmed to Radio Free Asia (RFA) in an interview published Thursday that Chinese officials had built a public toilet at the site of a demolished Uyghur mosque. The public bathrooms were reportedly not yet in use, nor was there any clear need for more public toilets in the area, the anonymous official reportedly said. China launched a campaign in 2016 to demolish Uyghur mosques throughout Xinjiang, China’s largest and westernmost province. Officials also used other initiatives to erase Uyghur and other Turkic ethnic minority culture, including restrictions on wearing Islamic clothing in public, limits...

The “Great Mosque” – as Hagia Sophia is now called by Turkey – will be open 24 hours a day. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave that order a day after the first Muslim prayer that took place inside the historic monument. “As of today, the president ordered us to open Hagia Sophia 24 hours a day for prayer. The Hagia Sophia ‘Mosque’ will be open all the time, that is 24 hours a day. We express our gratitude to our president,” posted the governor of Constantinople, Ali Yerlikaya, on Twitter. At the same time, ongoing works will be carried...

On Sunday, Pope Francis broke his silence regarding the decision by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to convert Hagia Sophia, the foremost cathedral in the Christian world for nearly a thousand years, to a mosque. If you blinked, however, you might have missed it. “I think of Hagia Sophia,” the Pope said, “and I am very saddened.” It was quite clear why he didn’t choose to say more: virtually anything he added would have landed him in troubles that he doesn’t want to have. The Pope’s tardy statement, such as it is, manifests a studied ambiguity. What exactly is he...

Turkey's President Erdogan has formally converted the former Hagia Sophia cathedral into a mosque to drum up support for his Islamic-rooted party... The move came hours after Turkey's highest administrative court issued a landmark ruling that unanimously annulled the 1934 cabinet decision to renovate the site into a museum. It meant the green light was given for Erdogan to restore the UNESCO World Heritage site's previous status as a mosque, reopening it to Muslim worship. Erdogan, a devout Muslim, is scheduled to deliver an address to the nation later today and has frequently used the Hagia Sophia issue... Nationalist and...

Armenian patriarch surprisingly backs President ErdoÄŸanÂ’s position, asking also for Christian prayer at famous former church. After 85 years as a museum, the Hagia Sophia is poised to once again become a mosque. Might it also again become a church? A Turkish court is scheduled to rule on July 2 if the iconic Byzantine basilica can be opened for Muslim worship. Built in 537 by Emperor Justinian, in 1453 the Ottoman sultan Mehmet II converted the Hagia Sophia into a mosque. Five centuries later, the secularizing founder of modern Turkey, Kamal Ataturk, turned it into a museum. UNESCO designated the...